A Muffled World
by SaminRaran
Summary: Since his childhood, Ollie knew what it felt to be different, to be seen as less than a person. But now, it's time to take a stand. On a voyage of a lifetime with the future King of the Pirates, he will won't let anybody make him feel like that ever again as he discovered new friends, new lands, and new exciting things that his eyes can lay witness to.
1. Muffled Overboard

**Hello! This is my first time even truly writing a fanfic before. So I don't know if it's gonna be bad or good or "meh." It's nerve-wracking for me, but you don't know if it would go right. It might be just fine. But I'll appreciate any criticism, good or bad or just mean. I need to know how to improve upon the story to make it more enjoyable for you!**

Statistically speaking, this would be impossible for me be in a such … an unfortunate situation to happen, especially on the first day away from my home. But I guess that everything can happen on the open sea.

After a whirlpool ducked us in, I was knocked unconscious by just the bare force of the water. It tore our ship apart, and all the resources, supplies, and my notes about the Grand Line are destroyed as well.

To be honest, I blame myself for letting this happen. I simply went for a small nap and let my certain idiot of a captain take the responsibility of manning the ship. I mean, what have I been thinking? This moron can't even solve a simple algebraic expression, much less the complexity of a simple, out-dated fishing boat! But yet, I let him man it.

The first thing that I woke up to the vast ocean knowing it as the East Blue. I sluggishly hung off on a piece of the destroyed ship as my legs, completely submerged into the water, felt weightless against the currents. The gentle wind blew against my face as I taste a bitter salty aftertaste. I probably will be vomiting and dehydrated as a results of unintentionally ingesting seawater, but that soon will be not my main concerns at the very moment.

As I regained my senses, my head sprung up in shock, just realizing how dire my situation is. My eyes, widen with the shock, rapidly search for any signs of human activities. Any at all I mean! Marines, pirates, even old sailors who were just fishing, I'll take any help I can get!

There isn't.

My mouth opened but quickly shut it. There's no use in wasting my energy for screaming for help. If any survival situation like this, I _need_ to remain calm and collected. I breathed and think my odds of surviving this horrendous experience. With numbers and the remembrances of stories of shipwrecked men surviving and other deciding factors, I calculated that my odds of surviving being shipwrecked myself is . . . 0.000935 percent . . .

I'm _so_ dead.

I didn't even make it over to the Grand Line yet, but I'm gonna die as a no-named pirate! Oh why me? I didn't even get into epic fights. I didn't get a bounty. I didn't wrote that book about devil fruits and how did it affect the human body! I didn't even truly prove myself to _them_ yet! I'm just gonna die today!

 _No_ , I remind myself. _Remain calm. Panicking will also waste energy._

I know what I just do. With my arms resting of the wood, I pointed one wet finger up and felt the cool wind blowing southeast of my location. I'm not a navigator, but luckily, I do know the basics. _Great,_ I thought _, if I can swim towards the north of this location, I probably can go back to Foosha in, like what? Two - three days?_ I sharply gasped at that thought. _Oh God, will I be alive then? I just ingested seawater, so I'll be sick in a few hours or even minutes. Dehydration will set in quickly too. I'll die in a day or two._ Then a sudden realization came upon me. _Oh God, Captain! Is he dead?! After that whirlpool, he had got sucked in too! Oh. God. He's dead! He's at the bottom of the ocean by now! Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! What will Mom gonna take it?! How will Marino gonna take it?! Oh God! How will_ Gramps _gonna take it?! Oh -_

Then all the suddenly, the water shook more violently than before. I look around for the source of the shaking and founded it. From the angle which l was viewing, I recognized a modern fishing boat. Thank Goodness! I'm saved! I raised my arm and wave it at the incoming boat as I screamed for the sailors' attention. As the boat comes closer, I noticed outfits of the two people in the boat. It looks like one of them is wearing some poor excuse of a marine uniform and other one is wearing . . . A red vest . . .

No way.

There's no way that he could survive that whirlpool.

As they come in closer, I recognized something that only one person I know wear. A straw hat.

My God, he _is_ alive, that crazy git!

As the boat move towards my direction, I saw that grinning face again. The same exact wide grin that I took comfort in knowing that he is safe, but how did he survived? Oh nevermind! Before I could calculate the logistics about his survival, Captain already put back his fist and stretch it far out towards me, grabbing the back of my shirt, and then reeled me in.

 _Gooooooood_ , I guess if this is the actual way pirates works, I think I would _never_ get use this age of piracy. Oh well, it's too late to go back.

It been few hours after the fight with Alvida and Monkey D. Luffy was absolutely, undeniably _bored_. And kinda hungry. But mostly bored.

Even though he has Coby on board on finding Zoro, that kid was just a cowardly mess who still on edge on simply for, well, everything. And now he is, bored. And Coby doesn't provide any entertainment for him. Coby, mindlessly looking out at sea, then suddenly gasped as he leans back and fell on the wooden floorboards with a loud thud. Laying on the same floor, Luffy pushed himself up and looked at Coby, who was scrambling to see whatever was at sea.

"L-Luffy!" Coby called out.

"Hey," Luffy said, "what are you -"

A familiar screech reached to his ears as Luffy spun to the source. Without hesitation, he pushed Coby out of the way and looked out at sea. A grin graced his lips as hsee put back a fist.

" _Gum-Gum,"_ he stretched his arm out towards the screeching, _HOOK!"_

Coby recovered from the push to only witnessed his freakish power once again. He rushed up to his side as Luffy already took of the shipwrecked passenger and reeling him in with great speed.

Before Coby replied, a boy, roughly the size of a skinny 10-year-old, was in front of the grinning rubber man, who hold him by the back of his shirt. He has a deep frown and crossed arms that show his obvious annoyance again the straw hat. The boy was, obviously, soaked down to the bone. The water dripped from his curly brown hair as his clothes, being just brown shorts, a white short-sleeved dress shirt, a pair of black suspenders, and a small red fanny pack left to his side, was drenched too.

The boy raised his hands and quickly do some gestures that Coby was not familiar with, but somehow, Luffy understood it perfectly.

"Okay," Luffy said as he dropped the boy on the floor, next to Coby, and onto his face. The boy flipped himself over and glared at the straw hat. Finally, out of his shocked state, Coby gained the will to speak.

"Who is this guy?!" Coby said, pointing at the boy next to him. The boy's head spun to Coby as his glare stunned Coby in fear. For a boy only three younger than him, he has some of the most intense glares that Coby had ever seen. It look like if they belongs to some sort of a predator hunting for prey. His light brown eyes are sharpen from the their edges and has some of the darkest circles under his eyes one can ever see, which entirely contrasts his milky smooth skin. But the strange thing is there's an air of mystery to him that Coby can't describe. Who is this guy? Why is he shipwrecked? Why he glaring at Luffy like he hates him? What is going on?

Not even daring let up his glare on Coby, the boy slowly turned to face Luffy as he do the same hand gestures as before. Luffy perked up as his hands automatically did the gestures as he speaks.

"Well, he's Coby," he said. "I kinda founded him on another ship as I woke up. But he's a coward so he is easy to deal with."

The boy gestured again.

"I just stuffed myself into that barrel we had. Ya know, the one filled with apples."

The boy gestured again with a grunt.

"Well, even if you were shipwrecked, you're okay, ri - OW!"

Before Luffy could finished, the boy pulled out a small hammer from his fanny pack and jumped and wracked on top of the rubber man's head. As Luffy rubbed his sore head, the boy crossed his arms with his hammer in still his hand.

"Why did you did that?" he whined.

The boy didn't respond but instead, hit him with his hammer again before sitting next to Coby again.

Coby can't believe this. This boy just came in here and already beaten up the strongest person that he'd ever seen. Is he gonna go the same thing to him too? Who is he? Who is _he_?

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Coby suddenly screamed into the boy's ear. For anybody within that range, they would be annoyed or even possibly anger by the yelp.

However the boy seems to be unfazed by it by the volume, but he still noticed.

The boy just spun his head towards Coby with the same, terrible glare as before at full blast. At the moment, Coby thought that he will die at that spot. The boy's eyes wondered over Coby like a examiner over a dead body. Coby flinched as the boy threw out his hand to him. After a few seconds of waiting, Coby realized that he's still alive as the boy's hand was out for a shake. Coby hesitated for a few seconds before grasping the boy's hand and shaking. Coby laughed nervously, not sure how to respond to this.

However, the boy didn't laugh.

In fact, he never smiles. He has the same frown the whole time that he had been here.

Finally, Luffy recovered from his head injury and sit up as he see the two getting along just fine. _Just fine._ It's not like Coby is really that tense. But he remembered that he got hit for no reason.

"Hey!" he shouted, rubbing the bump his head. "Why did you do that, Ollie?"

The boy, now named "Ollie", seems confused but still gestured to him again, but Luffy wasn't satisfied as he raised up his own hands and gestured back to him. Ollie gestured again with an annoyed expression. And then Luffy gestured back. And then Ollie gestured again. And then -

Okay, Coby couldn't take this anymore.

"LUFFY!" he called while finally standing back up with his fists clenched in front. "WHO IS THIS KID?! WHERE DID HE COME FROM?! AND WHY IS HE DOING WITH HIS HANDS?!"

"Oh him?" Luffy casually pointed at Ollie. "Remember that other crew that I have? That's him. He's Ollie and he's deaf."

 **How is it? Good, bad, or terrible? How do you like Ollie so far?**


	2. Muffled Scolding

**Okay! Here's the deal! Ollie is gonna be shown in third-person and first-person half of the time! And I'm not going to translate the actual meaning of sign language. Seriously, had you seen the actual translation of American Sign Language (ASL, hehe . . .)? You may be confused if I did put the straightforward translation. (Plus, I'm not fluent in it, please don't get offended)**

* * *

" _So basically, you are telling me that you woke up in a barrel on a passenger ship, knocked out a brunch of pirates who happen to be raiding at the same time, and beaten Iron Mace Alvida who, if I can remember, has a five million berries bounty, on our first day as pirates?"_ Ollie gestured as he sits and guzzled cups of freshwater as Coby keep refiling one after another. He know it's such a bizarre scene from an outsider point-of-view, but this is one of the only counteract the effects of drinking massive amount of seawater." _And now, we are on course to recruit Roronoa Zoro, the infamous pirate hunter who killed many in cold blood, with a cowardly child who wants to be a marine."_ Ollie inhaled the rest of his water before throwing the cup at Luffy's head, which had bounced off softly. " _Are you kidding me right now?! I slept only for a few minutes, and we got sucked into a stupid whirlpool. And now, because you manned the ship, I have to find another way to feed another goddamn mouth!"_

"Actually, you were sleeping for a day when that whirlpool happened," Luffy said as he gestured back.

Ollie, for a moment, was frozen in shock before gesturing back. " _What?"_

"You were asleep for a day before the whirlpool came."

A few moments of silence stood among the trio. _Oh God no . . .!_ Ollie thought as his posture stumps over. " _So what you are saying is that I overslept while you manned the ship!"_ he gestured as he perked up enough to see his captain's hands.

"Yeah, pretty much," Luffy gestured.

" _Then why the hell didn't you wake me up?!"_ Ollie furiously gestured. " _If I was wake and manning the ship, that same ship would have not been destroyed in a damn typhoon! You blubbering git of rubber! Don't you know that I don't like setbacks like this?! Yeah, we're going to have another crewmate soon, but my plans to make it to the Grand Line, which by the way I'd planned for years, is ruined because I fell asleep. But of course, if you would had wake me up, I would -"_

"Seriously, what's a 'git'? You had never told me," Luffy said without gesturing back.

But Ollie continued his rant.

" _\- But God Forbid that I, the first member of your crew, would have 'relax' and remain 'calm' while Monkey D. Luffy, who ironically has the intelligence capacity of an actual monkey, manned such a complicated task other than fighting. Yet I thought that you were responsible for manning a goddamn boat! What had I been think -"_

Then Ollie was interrupted by a soft tap on the shoulder. Ollie spun around, aiming at his glare at poor Coby who has a water bottle in his pudgy hands. Coby froze in his tracks, experiencing the same feeling he had as he first met Ollie. Ollie scanned him down before yanking the bottle out of his grip and gulping down it all down in a matter of a few seconds. When Ollie was finished, he slammed down the bottle against the floors and lifted his hands before gesturing a quick " _Thanks"_ before he continued to swings his hands around, saying his piece to Luffy.

But like most, Coby didn't understand a single thing.

"Luffy," Coby said as Ollie throw the bottle over to Luffy's head out of rage, which also bounced off softly. "I don't know Ollie for long, but what is he speaking about? I don't -"

"He speaks in Hands," Luffy pointed out like it's the most known fact on the planet.

"Huh,'Hands'?"

"Yeah, the Language of Hands," Luffy leans back until he hit the sides of the boat and looked up to the skies. "He can't really speak, but he can speak in Hands."

"But that's not I ask!" Coby raised his voice, expressing his frustration. "I mean what is he saying! I can't understand Hands, Luffy!"

"Huh? Is that what you want?" Luffy said. "All he saying is that he's mad that I manned our ship from before and that we are getting a new crewmate, and now, he's kinda blaming me, I think."

"What? Is that it?" Coby said, skeptical.

"No, not really. He usually go on these big rants and say all of these big words and other stuff too. I don't understand it so I'm ignoring it," Luffy stood up and sat on the bow of the boat while Ollie didn't notice and was still silently ranting on in anger.

" _\- And that's why you used this mathematical theorem instead of that mathematical theorem! It make more sense if A is multiple with C! Can you see the practicality of using statistics in situations like - Hey, are you ignoring me again?!"_

Ollie wordlessly shouted at Luffy with heaved no results whatsoever. In fact, Luffy was just relaxing while picking his nose with his pinky. Ollie was further dare he dig for gold while he was talking! Didn't he know that everyone should pay their undevoted attention to someone who is talking! It's just the basics of good manners! Hell, Ollie try to do the same thing to others and he's _literally_ deaf! The nerve!

Ollie fumed in rage, trying not to attempt to push the Straw Hat overboard, because, unfortunately, being the logical person he is, if he pushed off his captain, he has to immediately dive in and save him and that will cause him to be wet again. And he already spent a few hours drying his only clothes. He mean, the rest was at the bottom of the ocean! And that only resulted because a certain idiot refused to wake him up. Not to mention, all their supplies, their berries, his research notes, and his mother's published -

 _Okay!_ He stood up and slowly approached up at the Straw Hat. _Screw logic, Captain needs to pay!_ As his hands near Luffy's unsuspecting back, he stopped and realized a better approach to this revenge. _Oh duh! Why didn't I thought of this before?_ As he got the solution, his hands reached over his suspenders and took off the buttons before throwing them on the floor. _I'll just take off my clothes then at least, they'll be dry when I pushed this git over!_ Ollie snickered as he took off his shirt which causing Coby to dropped his jaws at his shameless act. Ollie took a moment to look at Coby, midway of taking off his shorts and fanny pack. _Please, really?_ He thought to Coby. _After I stripped, we both are going to laugh and laugh at when I push -_

"Hey guys! We're -" Luffy turns sharply to only find Ollie naked, saved for his smiley teddy bear underwear. "Ollie, why do you still have those?" Luffy pointed to the bears while gesturing back.

Ollie didn't say a grunt nor gestured back. His cheeks turned a tint of red as it consumed his face. His hands shot up to covered up his blush, and without a moment later, Ollie jumped into the water, leaving the two behind. Luffy looked over the sea, looking for the boy, but he founded no traces of him. "Oh well," Luffy stated. "I guess he'll come back soon."

"WHAT?!" Coby screamed. "THAT KID IS A PART OF YOUR CREW! WHAT IF HE DROWN?!"

"Nah, Ollie's a good swimmer."

And then, at that exact moment, Coby thought that he'll die from a heart attack before he become a marine. He never seen such a crazy duo like these before! Never! Not once in his life! He means, a rubber man who is convinced that he'll be the Kings of the Pirates and a deaf kid with some scary-looking eyes who . . . Actually he knows nothing about Ollie. But still though! How did he find himself into a situation like this? Why did his life became like this?

"Also, Coby," Luffy called out before turning to him with his signature grin. "I think we founded the island."

Coby slowly shifted his head to right to see a large island with a thriving town and the largest marine base that he'd ever seen. It's a beautiful sight to bare. The base looked like it been hand carved by an master sculptor as its blue and white accents complemented the surreal busy town just below. It's just hard to imagine that it's the place that a terrifying hunter is being kept at.

An arm merged from the water and grabbed onto the edge of the boat as Ollie pulled himself out. Ollie, now soaking again, marches over to Luffy and gestured.

" _Those are not the same teddy bears that I wore for years, my friend. Those are my new terrifying bear pants. It's not what you think, I swear!"_

"But Ollie -" Before Luffy finished his gesture, the embarrassed boy ran back of the ship as he grabbed his clothes on the way.

Both of the teens looked at the direction of Ollie's disappearance. Luffy, Being apathetic about the whole, looked over to Coby who is borderlining about to pull out of his hair out of his head.

"Don't worry," Luffy reassured him. "He'll be fine."

Coby screamed into the skies, taking one single ounce of comfort of knowing that he'll be with these guys for at least a few more hours.

* * *

GODDAMNIT! I DON'T WEAR TEDDY BEARS AS UNDERWEAR!

I don't care what you say, but it isn't true because a man like me don't wear some childish thing like underwear covered in cute teddy bears!

Anyway, we just got on the island in a matter of minutes. That's enough time to put on my clothes again and discarded my underwear for absolutely no particular reason whatsoever. As my foot just touched the solid ground, Luffy didn't take his time to get off the boat. Once we landed, he jumped up the boat before charging into town with Coby trailing behind him. Unfortunately, because my captain didn't gave any warning that he's going to go in that quickly, I had to play catch up as I tried to run behind him. Emphasis the word " _tried_."

Even though I'm younger than Captain, I'm not really the most physically active person that you'll ever know. Before I left Foosha Village, I mostly spend my days indoors, researching about facts about the Grand Line and other necessary skills that will help when we got there. Everything but the physical strength that is required to just be in the Grand Line. I know it was not the wisest thing on my behalf, but I only hope Luffy's ungodly strength and power will make up for it. But that isn't that simple, right? I just run a little over two minutes and beads of sweat started to form around my forehead. Well damn, if I'm really _that_ out of shape, then how will I survive when I get to the Grand Line? Logically, I will have to work in the back lines, but that's not my main concern at the moment.

Back to reality, I screamed out to Captain, who paying someone for a pear that he's eating. He turned around as I quickly walked up to him, breathing heavily. _Captain,"_ I gestured, " _don't run like that again!"_

"Why not?" He gestured back to me, stuffing the rest of his pear in his mouth.

" _Why not? Why not you slow down for a bit because I suck at running,"_ I breathed deeply, stood up straight, and looked up in Luffy's eyes. " _Look Captain, here's the plan that I created earlier. You go recruit Roronoa Zoro and I'll stay in town, resupplying everything we lost. And also, translated the next thing I said for Coby."_

Then I turned to Coby and gestured rapidly to him as Captain translated. " _Coby, I know I hadn't know you for that long, but I'm confident that you would be sufficient enough to -"_

"Hey Ollie! Stop using big words! I can't understand them in Hands!" Luffy gestured back.

" _I'm sorry,"_ I can't help but to steady my hands and focused on not silently cursing Luffy to a horrible death. " _Anyway, Coby look after Captain. Make sure he won't do something dumb. And if he did, I'll skin you alive, got it?"_

Coby bobbed his head, fully knowing that I'm serious about my demand. " _Good,"_ I gestured. " _Now, I'm taking my leave now. You idiots better know not to die at the base, or I might have to get you guys from the afterlife."_

Without a moment delayed, I spun on my heels and walked in the opposite direction of theirs. I'm not sure if either of them called out on my name, but I'm sure that shopping for stuff will give me a headache for the rest of the night.

* * *

 **By the time I'm finished with this, I gotten a positive from you guys and I'm just happy for you liking it. Thank you so much. I'm happy that you enjoy it. :)**

 **And also, one reviewer pointed out that I made a transition error in Chapter 1. Thank you so much for tell me about that. I hope to improve with this feedback!**


	3. Muffled Plans

I hate this shopping experience. Period.

I know that a lot of people, mostly women, like to shop, and to be frank, I like to shop for things when I was in Foosha too. But this isn't Foosha. No, this Is a new place for me, and it's a little intimidating for me. Oh, who am I kidding? I knew it from the start that I might have to do this, but I guess the realities of actually being a pirate is finally setting in. I thought that my "flawless" plan will drive us in the the proper direction to the Grand Line, yet it's been just one day and everything had fell apart. Oh joy.

Anyway, I can't whine and complain here now. I have another plan in place.

During a portion of the time after I got picked up by Luffy, I contrived a plan to resupply our resources. It might seems a bit rushed, considering the time that I spend on it (which is two hours) and how fairly reckless it is. I personally prefer to plan at least a day in advance, but this is an emergency in this case. But anyway, let's proceeded to Phase One of operations!

* * *

 _Phase One: Obtain berries._

Of course, the likelihood of finding an odd job in a new town is fairy slim for me, but I got another solution. As many haven't known, I have slim and dexterous hands.

I stood in the middle of the center of town, stretching my limbs for my attempt. With my heart already pumping, I pulled back a heel behind me and kicked it, giving momentum to run. The nearest person firstly fell victim to me as my hands digged into their back pocket and grabbed their wallet. They didn't even noticed before I ran away. The next person that I came across, I picked their wallet, and so the next. After about four people in and when my chest feeling like it's about to burst, my arms was almost filled to the brim with wallets of all shapes and sizes. Even though I _might_ just have enough to pay for the necessary supplies, I figured that it's always good to have a little extra on hand. So with that thought in mind, I pushed myself to run forward to the next person and -

The person grabbed my wrist just as I creep it to take their wallet. Then out of nowhere, I was pulled to up into the air, with the wallets still tucked into my other arm, and came face-to-face with the person who I was about to steal from. According to my calculations, the odds of this exact situation happening was about 35.98 percent, but still, this freaks me out!

The person that caught me was this girl with short orange hair and brown eyes, and honestly, she might be the prettiest person that I had the privilege to lay my eyes on. But she was mean as hell. I can't tell what she was saying, but I know she scolding me to oblivion as I saw her lips flapped rapidly with her brows arched. I don't know what she going to do with me, and I didn't want to find out. I tried to struggle out of her grip, but damn, she had to have my mom's hands if anyone want to keep me down. But on second thought, I'm pretty sure that anyone could keep me down, but still though, I'll be damned to let anyone hold me down! Unintentionally, I kicked that girl's chin, which caused her to lose her grip on me. I fell onto the ground in my feet luckily. Before I ran, I quickly digged my hand into her pocket, took her wallet, and ran away before she could catch up. What? If I'm going to get that wallet in the first place, then that was a perfect opportunity for it!

After three minute of running, I ducked into an alley and pressed my back against the opposite wall. Oh my God, I felt like I was dying. My heart couldn't stop beating and my forehead was just completely drenched. I sort of wished that I had the fitness of Luffy, but yet again, I get his monstrous metabolism which is the reason why he eats so much. And to be honest, I don't like to eat. If my body doesn't require food to function, then I wouldn't eat at all. Ever.

Anyways, I sat down at that very spot and started to count "my" berries. Honestly, I got a lot. There was three hundred, then four hundred, then . . . OH MY GOD!

That girl's wallet has around thirty thousand berries!

What kind of family did she came from?! Does she trick rich guys into giving money for a living?! Is she a member of nobility?! Seriously, this looked like she stole this money from somewhere! She must be stressing out about this money if it's this much!

 _Oh well,_ I thought. _I guess it's mine now._

And with that, onto the hardest part. Proceed to Phase Two of operations.

* * *

 _Phase Two: Buy enough food for Luffy_

I don't know where he came from. I don't know who birth him. I do know that whoever his parents are, they are fatasses in skinny bodies. Luffy is the epitome of a bottomless pit. There's no comparison. Hell, if it's between him and a guy who been starving for like three weeks, I say that Luffy will still eat more than him. Therefore, I had made a plan in terms of rationing. I just needed to get a separate set of rations just for him, because if I combined the regular rations with my future crewmate and mine, we'll starve while Luffy is gulping everything down. I swear this will save the food and our stomachs later on.

After I strolled into the local market, observing their fresh produce, I made an subplan of attack that doesn't include the most difficult thing about shopping.

Asking and paying.

Imagine if you put on a pair of earplugs and talk to a person face-to-face, and you can't speak. That's how hard for me to communicate with others, and I absolutely dread it. I hate it. If I could talk to them, I would, but I don't know how to talk. All I can do is to scream and ramble about nothing. Not only that, I don't understand what people talking about. I see their lips move and that's it. I don't even know what a word sounds like nor any other sounds for that matter. I used to have a tool to help counteract that problem, but it was at _the bottom of the goddamn ocean._ I breathed deeply and exhaled. _It's alright, Ollie,_ I reminded myself as I approached a friendly-looking old lady. _You already concocted a brilliant plan to shop with minimal effort_. With the berries in my hands, I shoved into hers and walked pass her to a barrel of apples that I spotted earlier. I pushed the barrel to its sides and rolled away from the stand. What? It's the easiest way to get what I want without stealing or trying to communicate. Without a doubt, I can say this plan was a success!

Anyways, proceed to Phase Three of operations.

* * *

 _Phase Three: Get enough food for the rest of us_

It's the easiest phase of this operation. After I get this barrel onto the ship, I can get the food for me and my future crewmate, and then maybe, if I got the time, I could replace my tool that was at the ocean floor. And if I have some extra time, I could rewrite the Grand Line notes that I lost. If I still have extra time, maybe I rewrite the first entry of my _Devil Fruit Dictionary_. Man, now I wish that Luffy is going take his time in getting the newbie. I think today is finally turning good again. I can't wait to -

In the corner of my vision, Luffy and that kid was sitting near a restaurant with a little girl between them, talking. _What the hell?_ I thought. _Why are they chatting with a little girl? Don't tell me that spend the last hour talking with a little kid!_

I sped up my rolling as I shouted out for them. All three turned their head to me as I stopped in front of them. " _Luffy,"_ I gestured, putting a hand on the barrel, " _what's going on? Where's Zoro?"_

"Zoro is still at the the marine base, still tied up," he gestured. "I still haven't decide if he's gonna join or not."

" _What? You haven't decided?"_ I gestured quickly, anger filling me. " _Are you sure you didn't slacked off again? And also, why are you even with this little girl in the first place?"_

Then Luffy proceeded to tell me about everything that happened to him. The swordsman, the little girl, the snotty spoiled brat, _everything_. By the end, my hands was tightly clenching each other, borderline about to draw blood. Goddamn, I never expected a swordsman who have such a reputation to be so . . . Nice. To be tied up for a whole month for a little girl and her mom. I never heard such a tale unless it's in fictional writings. Plus, how did he even survive it? An average man can only survive so long without food or water but for three weeks and still talking! That is an absolutely amazing feat to accomplished! And with that, Roronoa Zoro, you earned my respect!

In a sudden moment, all three of them sharply moved their heads to a certain direction, probably because of a loud noise that I can't hear. As we rushed to the doorway of the restaurant, I paused and then pressed my back against to the wall next to the entrance. I noticed that girl from earlier was in. She was in the restaurant, sitting at a table, and drinking something. Damn, if she sees me and we have some altercation, then some divine being must really hates me.

Before I can fully comprehend what's going on, Luffy ran forward toward a guy in a gaudy purple suit and punched him on the cheek _hard._ Coby quickly ran over and held him back before he could do any more damage to the man. Honestly, when I was in Foosha, I rarely get to see Luffy that mad, but what I can is that when he get mad, it's a frightening sight to behold. Luffy was yelling at the man who is backing up against the . . . Marines? Why the marines with such a guy? Is he the spoiled brat that Luffy told me about? After that brat ran off with his marine bodyguards trailing him, Luffy promptly went out of the restaurant with a determined expression as Coby and I followed him. I ran up to him in front of them, walking backward, as I gestured to him.

" _Is Roronoa Zoro going to join our crew today?"_

Without a word, he nodded.

* * *

" _Okay Captain, what do you want to do exactly?"_ Ollie gestured. As the three boys stood near the wall which separated them from Zoro, Ollie looked up to it with his sharp eyes, calculating. Ollie looked back his captain, gesturing back to him.

" _I haven't been in this marine base yet, so . . ."_

"We just climb up over the wall and convince Zoro to join our crew," Luffy gestured.

" _Right . . . I can't climb."_

"Then get on my back. We did this before, Ollie."

Ollie smiled slightly as he jumped on his captain's back and wrapped his arms around his neck. O _ne of the benefits of delayed puberty,_ Ollie thought. He turned his head to Coby and give him a reassuring nod. _We'll be back soon. Hang in there, ya coward!_

Luffy winded his arm before stretching it to the peak of the wall as they flied over it. As Luffy's feet touched the ground, Ollie immediately jumped off of him and surveyed the area. It was a just lonely barren land filled with white-colored dirt and grey walls. The only thing that stood out was a green-haired man, assumed to be Zoro, that was tied to a cross and a gate that leads to the marine base. His head was down and Ollie, being a curious lad he is, quickly ran up to examine the man as Luffy followed behind. As Ollie looked up to the man, he took a step back as Zoro's glare, covered by the shadows of his black bandana, aimed directly at him. "What with kids visiting me today?" Zoro muttered to himself. "Get out of here!" His words goes over Ollie's head as Luffy walked beside the boy. "You again?" the man asked. "What do you want? And why did you bring another kid here?"

"Oh him?" Luffy looked down at Ollie who continually scanning the man with widen eyes. "He's Ollie and he's a member of my crew."

"A crew?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, I run a pirate crew and I'm looking for people to join up."

"And I assume you want me to join too?" Zoro practically spatted out. "No way! I never stoop joining up with a bunch of criminals." He looked away in disgust. "Screw that business."

"And what's wrong with being a pirate?" Luffy asked as Ollie walked around Zoro, surveying the man with interest.

"They're despicable! Why would I join up with one?" Zoro looked at Ollie as he stopped suddenly with a tiny smile on his face, looking at the swordsman in fascination . "Hey kid, why did you joined a pirate crew? Did your parents kick you out or what?"

"Oh c'mon, give me a break," Luffy turned his head to Ollie, who still staring at the swordsman in awe. He tapped the boy's shoulder as Ollie broke his focus and looked over to his captain. "Hey Ollie," Luffy gestured. "What did you heard about this guy?"

" _Well, according all of the newspapers that I read, Roronoa Zoro had been described as many things,"_ Ollie gestured as Luffy translated again. " _For example, he been described as a 'demon' and a 'monster' and every single thing that you wouldn't even say to your greatest enemy."_ Ollie came closer to Zoro with a knowledgeable smirk " _It sounds like you already have a quite a reputation. Why not join our pirate crew if you have such a history? Or do you want die here?"_

"Listen here, kid," Zoro glared at Ollie who wasn't surprised anymore. "People can say whatever they want about me, but I haven't done a single thing that I regret. I will make though this challenge, and after that, I'll accomplish what I want."

Ollie looked up at Luffy, not knowing what Zoro just said, but Luffy didn't answer back to him.

"Yeah, that's great," Luffy said. "But I already decided that you going to be on my crew."

"What?!" Zoro yelled as Ollie tried to hold back a giggle at his shocked expression. "You can't do that!"

"I hear that you are the best swordsman around," Luffy changed the subject.

"Well I am, but that idiot captain son took my swords away."

"I guess I have to go and get it back for you."

"What?"

Ollie pulled on Luffy's vest, getting his attention. He gestured something back to Luffy as his captain nodded in agreement.

"That's exactly what I'm thinking!" Luffy said out loud before turning to Zoro. "Ollie said that he doesn't see your sword anywhere and just assumed that it's in that base. He also said that if you want it back, you have to join our crew or stay rotting on this stick until you get let out."

"You both really pissing me off!"

Luffy laughed as he slapped Ollie's back, who didn't really move, before running away from them. Ollie perked up in a sudden realization and shouted at his captain. Luffy stopped and turned around as he saw Ollie pointed in the correct direction of the base. "Oh right!" Luffy said as he stretched his arms to that direction and pulled himself towards it. "Thanks!"

Zoro gawked at the rubber man inhuman abilities as Ollie just looked at him with an excited smile. "W-what the hell is this guy" Zoro muttered.

Ollie stood still with a smile still plastered on his face. "Hey kid!" the swordsman yelled. "I said what the hell is he?!"

Ollie tiled his head to left in confusion as Zoro sighed in frustration. "Nevermind," he muttered. "Stupid kid."

Suddenly, he felt hard weight crashing down on his head. "What the hell -" He looked down to see Ollie, who just below him, with his little hammer and a closed-eyed smile. _I can't hear, but I sensed that you insulted my intelligence,_ he thought, putting his hammer away. With that, Ollie leaned closer toward Zoro's face, too close for comfort, as his eyes suddenly sharpen , forming into his signature glare. "Hey! What are -" Ollie slapped his hand against Zoro's mouth as a sinister smile grows upon his lips. _But now that Luffy is away,_ he thought, _I can examine you without any outside bias or major interruptions._

And without any hesitation, Ollie softly poked his cheek repeatedly.

Zoro was so dumbstruck at the boy's action that he had nothing harsh to say. All he can say is, "What?" But the poking didn't cease. Ollie, with a glare to rival Zoro's, is just poking the swordsman's cheek for no solid reason. Yet it make a whole lot of sense to Ollie.

 _His muscles has surprisingly retained its form over the past weeks, not being flabby whatsoever. And he's still hydrated. Does that mean he has a daily allowance of water? Or does that mean his body can preserve water well too? Wow . . . What an interesting body he has . . ._

But still, to Zoro, this poking doesn't make sense.

 _When comparing this to Luffy's, I say that his body hold more muscles in proportion to his weight. He has a mesomorph body. A wonderful body to fight in. I'm glad that to say he's a real deal in combat. Also, he has to have a recessive gene for that hair. Green really? That's an unusual rare trait to have. I wonder what area he was borned in? If he has green hair, then maybe others in his birth place would too. Roronoa Zoro, I can't wait to examine you even further._

Then when Zoro thought that Ollie won't stop, he saw the same pink-haired boy from earlier as he climb over the wall and ran over him. Ollie observed what Zoro's eye been wandering to and turned around to see Coby again. Ollie casually waved at him before turning back around and poking Zoro's cheek some more, furthering irritating him.

 _Noted: Zoro seems to get mad easily._

Coby stopped in front of Ollie as he gasped the sides of his head. "Are you serious?!" He screeched. "That's what you been doing the whole time?!" But this doesn't get his attention. After all, Coby was talking to a _deaf_ person. Knowing it's fruitless, Coby immediately goes over to Zoro's restrains and tried to untie them. Zoro turned his head to the new kid while Ollie was still poking his cheek. "You have to get out of here, Zoro," Coby said, struggling to untie the ropes.

"That maniac is gonna kill you for what you are doing right now," Zoro said. "Get out of here and take this brat with you too!" Ollie keeps poking him before Zoro turned to him. "WILL YOU QUIT IT?!"

"I'm sorry Zoro, but I think he won't stop. He can't really understand."

Zoro huffed in frustration.

Cody's hands got quicker. "I can't stand to watch the marines behavior like this anymore." Coby firmly said, not once tripping over his words. "A true marine should be honorable."

"Look kid! I can't leave! I got ten day left! And then they were -"

"Well, not quite. They were gonna execute you tomorrow."

"They what?" he barely whispered as Ollie finally stopped poking and peered behind Coby's back. Ollie saw what Coby trying to accomplish and realized one thing. _Oh yeah, I sort of have to get Zoro out to examine him fully!_ As Ollie digged into his fanny pack, he pulled out a pair of small blue scissors. Ollie ran back over to Zoro's right side and try to cut his ropes, but with his height, he only managed to glazed the ropes a bit. Knowing that he can't waste his time there, he shouted over to Coby who jumped out of fear. He looked over to Ollie who pointed up to the ropes then to his scissors. Coby nodded and came to Ollie and propped him off on his shoulders. Ollie rapidly cut into the ropes. The scissors was dull and in need of a good sharpening, but with effort, the ropes is cutting deeper and deeper, and when Ollie was close to free the swordsman, he -

"End of the line!" Coby suddenly dropped Ollie, making lose his grip on his scissors. As Ollie sat up and glared at the boy, he saw something in the corner of his eye and turned to see. A large man in a marine uniform with a posse of smaller ranking marine was coming at them. Ollie knew it. "For the crime of treason against me, I sentenced all three of you to die where you stand." Ah yes, this was a predictable outcome.

This was his moment. This would be his first official battle as a pirate. Ollie stood up with a gleeful smile of his face. "What are you smiling for?" the large man, presumably Axe-handed Morgan, asked. Ollie tiled his head in confusion again, but it was a part of his plan as well. As the other marines was lost in their confusion, his hand slipped into his back pocket and took out a small white cube with a thin plastic layer. He crushed it, causing everyone who heard the sound to gasp and back away. Ollie, with a teasing smirk, threw over by the marines, leaving a trail of black smoke as it fell.

 _Smoke Advance: Mark 4!_ he thought as marine looked at the flying projectile.

As the bomb landed by the marines' feets, a big burst of dark smoke flooded the whole area. The marines panicked at the attack, being blinded by the sudden dark cloud. They screamed and shouted out profanities left and right while Captain Morgan angrily threatened Ollie. "That boy . . . YOU REBEL! THIS IS A PART OF A COUP, ISN'T IT?! IF I FIND YOU, YOU'RE DEAD!" Ollie happily laughed, clapping at his product's performance. _Ah yes,_ he thought, holding back a snicker _, this is what centuries upon centuries of natural selection and evolution yields to! As humans, we became top of the food chain for one thing, intelligence. Not our strength. Not our teamwork. It's our amazing intelligence that surpassed all other animals in our ecosystem! But anyways,_ Ollie positioned himself with his hammer in hand and sprinted towards the endless smoke. _ONWARD TO PHASE TWO!_

As his little body was engulfed by the dark cloud, Ollie's sight became burred as marines walked around, looking for sights to see. His eyes watered uncontrollably, irritatingly them with his "special" mixture. He still holding his ground better than the marine who foolishly rubbed the chemicals. Ollie knew the effects of rubbing them in was basically asking for pain and a longer duration. As Ollie saw an outline of a marine, he ran over and wracked his hammer against his kneecap, shattering. As the marine fell down, screaming, Ollie picked up his heavy musket and aimed it into the air. In one pull, the musket sounded the area with a bang as Ollie dropped it and ran away from the cloud. As his feet just stopped, the scared marines, with rushing paranoia, shot their weapons in succession, injuring each other. Zoro and coby, who had to bare witness at the events, gawked in surprise at the young boy who might potentially kill a few people. Ollie, with watery eyes, looked at his masterpiece in awe. _Ahh, what a beautiful sight! A quick plan that turns out successful!_ He gleefully thought. _Yup! And best of all, Luffy didn't need to help me after all! I did it all in my own-_

"TRAITORS!" A bloody marine flyed over to Ollie. Luckily, he swiftly slided to the left, avoiding the battered man. Ollie gasped, covering his mouth in horror. _What?! This isn't how this -_

As the smoke dispersed, Ollie realized that his calculations of how events will played out had gone to an _undesirable_ direction. Ollie's eyes meet the captain's blood-covered axe hand and his iron jaw in a hateful scowl. Just realizing that how dire his situation is, Ollie felt like he couldn't breathe. He nervously laughed at Morgan's deadly glare on him, and as the captain wiped away the running tears from his eyes, he said something that even Ollie heard deep from within his soul.

"You are _dead_."

Ollie smiled while backing up before turning around and running away from the frightening captain. "DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE OR I'LL HAVE ALL OF YOUR HEADS ON A PIKE!" Morgan ordered. The fallen marines, both bloodied and injured, immediately got up and grabbed their muskets. Ollie pushed his legs harder as the marines took aimed. In the midst of his panic, Ollie tripped in front of Coby who was panicking as well. This is it. Ollie cheated death once today, but the odds that he will do it again was astronomical. His arms curled up against his head with his leg tucked against his small frame. As the shots was fired, it seems time had slowed. Ollie shut his eyes, hoping it will be quick death. But like if that same divine being, who seem to had hated earlier, had graced him, a window shattered and then like that, Luffy was there to take in the bullets. As the bullets individually stretched his body, it just quickly bounced away from him "See ya!" Luffy cheerfully said.

This was it. Ollie knew that the odds had been tipped in their favor.

* * *

 **Fun Fact: Ollie's "Smoke Advance: Mark 4" was his latest special bomb attacks that he developed.**


	4. Muffled Bow

**HEY! I just want to personally say thank you to** _ **stanleyman**_ **! They been so awesome in giving me feedback though PM! So before you read, check out** _ **stanleyman**_ **story called "Deadly Flower of Loguetown." Anyways, enjoy reading the new chapter! :)**

* * *

Luffy was standing, face-to-face, with the marines, just laughing his little mind off. "That won't work on me!" Luffy stated proudly. "Told ya that I was strong!" At that exact moment, Ollie suddenly questioned how did this insane rubber man became his captain in the first place. Couldn't he see that he was laughing at a marine who double, no, _triple_ his size? Ollie, as much the intellectual he is, don't know for sure. Instead he just chuckled softly along with his captain. _Well, Luffy always have those infectious laughs,_ he thought.

Zoro, still in shock at the laughing duo, yelled out to them. "W-Who the hell are you guys?!"

Luffy casually turned around with a smile and answered while stretching one of his cheeks, "I'm a rubber man!" Luffy let go of his cheek before replying again. "And my name is Monkey D. Luffy! The man who's gonna be King of the Pirates!" Then he pointed over to Ollie who was getting up from his fall, dusting the dirt off of his shorts, and walking around the injured marine. "And also, that's my tactician, Ollie." As he just mentioned Ollie, Luffy realizes something off about his friend. "Hey Ollie," he gestured. "Are you crying again?"

Ollie's cheeks suddenly blushed as he rubbed away the rest of his tears. " _No you git!"_ he gestured back. " _It was the effects of my product! It has similar chemical compounds as mace!"_

"What's mace?"

"HEY! STOP TALKING TO THAT KID AND TELL ME WHAT JUST THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS?!" Zoro screeched as Ollie slowly walked over them, calculating their odds in this battle.

"Oh us?" Luffy answers the swordsman with a grin. "Didn't you hear me? I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the man who gonna the King of the Pirates. And that's Ollie over there."

"Are you serious?! _You_ gonna be King of the Pirates?" Zoro asked with a sarcastic tone. "Right? You must be completely out of your rubbery mind if you think that? Do you even have any idea what the King of the Pirates means?"

"King of the Pirates means King of the Pirates. Isn't that right, Ollie?" Luffy gestured to Ollie, walking up to Zoro.

" _To be fair, a king supposed to run a kingdom, and as I know, there isn't really any pirate kingdom that Roger -"_

"Welp, I don't know what Ollie just said!" Luffy obviously lied, causing Ollie to sighed frustratedly.

 _Well maybe you shouldn't for my opinion then,_ he thought.

"Yeah! When he first told me, it was shocking but he's completely serious," Coby said. "That's how he is, I suppose. 'Cause he has every intention of being King of the Pirates and obtaining the world's ultimate treasure, the One Piece!"

Luffy laughed as he gestured to Ollie, "Yup! And Ollie is gonna help me! He's smart enough to find where the One Piece is!"

" _Ah, Captain?"_ Ollie gestured back, looking towards the marines with concern. " _I really like when you compliment me, but this isn't the time and place for it. We got a brunch of angry and maced marines to deal with! And, as your personal tactician, I highly advise that you fight them while they are down!"_

"Oh right!" Luffy said without gesturing back. "But first," he walked over Zoro, taking off the three katanas off his back and holding them out in front of him. "Here's what we promised you. There's three. I couldn't tell what is yours so I just took all of them." Ollie sharply glared at his captain and pointed to the direction of the marines, who was quickly recovering from his special mace formula. While Luffy and Zoro was conversing, Ollie didn't have the patience for this as he was panicking deep within. They need to take action _now_. If Ollie could, he would follow his motto and ran away from a fight that he can't win a long time ago. But obviously, he can't. His statistics said that there's a high chance that it will be open season for him if he runs. There was also a high chance that his potential crewmate would be killed too if he runs. So what is he _suppose_ to do? Risk it? Stay here? Or tell Luffy to stop talking and kick the marines' asses already?

Before Ollie can fully flesh out a proper plan, he felt a hard slap on his back. Ollie jumped in shock, under the thought was he's being attacked, but it was just Luffy. "Hey! Good news!" he gestured. "Zoro is gonna join our crew!"

" _Yes, yes, that's nice,"_ Ollie gestured quickly, his eyes looking at the marines. " _Please cut down Zoro and fight the marines already. I can see they are about done recovering."_

"Okay!" Luffy said nonchalantly before turning and tugging at Zoro's ropes. Ollie slapped his forehead in frustration. He tugged on Luffy's vest, causing him to turn around. " _Carry me on your back again!"_ Ollie gestured. "I _have scissors and I'm almost finished cutting his right side!"_ Luffy nodded, putting Ollie on his back with ease. As Ollie rapidly tears away at the remaining ropes, he can't help but to glance at the marines once in while. Until -

 _Oh my kombucha and God!_ He thought, staring at the charging marines welded swords with widen eyes. _The marines are coming!_

As the others noticed, they panicked with Ollie who mercilessly tore at the ropes at a much faster rate. "C'MON KID!" Zoro yelled, looking at Ollie who remains undisturbed. "JUST GIVE ME MY SWORDS!" Just Ollie finally cut the last of the ropes, a flash, a burr, blinded him and caused him to fall off of Luffy's shoulders. As he pushed himself up, he looked at the cross that once held Zoro empty. He turned his head to where the marines were charging and saw that they were being held at the edge of a blade by Roronoa Zoro. Ollie never seen such a display of swordsmanship before. Somehow, Zoro welded three swords, two in his hands and and one in his mouth. A highly impractical feat that Ollie, who grew up with some of the best swordsmen in the East Blue, never seen before. Ollie had his mouth ajar with his eyes filled with absolute wonderment.

"Make one move and you die," Zoro stated clearly despite the sword in his mouth. The marines, who Ollie founded them as intimidating men earlier, was reduced to tears in a matter of moments. Ollie chuckled lightly, wary at the slight possibly that Zoro might betray him and his captain, but as a person who lived with other swordsmen in his younger life, it would considered to be dishonorable for a swordsman to break a promise. As Zoro conversed, what Ollie can guess, with Luffy, his captain turned to him and gestured, "Ollie! We're going to have the world's greatest swordsman on our crew! Can't you believe that?"

The world's greatest swordsman? With what he had seen, Ollie can believe it as a fact.

Ollie, not sure how to tell Zoro that he's excited for him to join, gave him a thumbs up with a small smile. Zoro nodded back at Ollie, knowing what he trying to say. As just about Ollie to relax, a realization struck him like lighting. _I FORGOT ABOUT MORGAN!_ He thought with renew panic as he looked at Morgan's tall figure over the smaller marines.

Luckily, Luffy got this covered.

Without a second of wasted hesitation, Luffy raised his leg behind. Ollie instantly know what his captain going to do ad he rushed behind Luffy and away from his _Gum-Gum Whip_. Now, with his captain as his meat shield, Ollie can't help but prepare for a counterattack against the marines. He took out a blue triangular pyramid with a piece of twisted linen from his fanny pack and a skinny metal case. Ollie opens the case and sees a row of neatly arranged matches. _Still dry,_ Ollie thought, happy that they didn't get wet from his overboard experience as he took one out and closing it, _This is for you, Marine. For your crimes of scaring me, I sentenced you to die by my Smith Wonder: Mark 7!_ As Ollie flicked a match against the case and lights the linen, Luffy unpredictably charged forward to Morgan. As Luffy's fists collated with Morgan's axe hand, Ollie panicked as he hold the active bomb. Not sure how to put it now without burning himself, Ollie rashly threw the bomb over to Morgan, screaming loudly twice. Ollie's equivalent to saying, "Fire in the hole!" Luffy realizes his screams and ran back, away from the bomb. As just the bomb reaches in front of Morgan's face, it exploded, bursting into a destructive wave of fire and iron shrapnel. As a flaming heat licks the marines' faces, Captain Axe-Handed Morgan, now covered in a thick layer of soot and bleeding from wounds that the shrapnel inflicted, was defeated as he falls on his back. "Thanks, Ollie!" Luffy shouted back before climbing on top of Morgan, giving the final blows to his steel jaw. Ollie, still on edge, warily walked over by Zoro's side. Is this it? Is it over? Can Ollie finally return to sanity and logic now?

"Straw Hat! Stop right there! Look what I got!"

Of course, there's more. There's _always_ more. As Zoro turned his head to the horrible screeching, Ollie did the same thing, curious on what Zoro is trying to see. He immediately regretted out, that same brat that gives wealthy kids a bad name was back again, and this time, he has Coby as a hostage. As Luffy continues to punch Morgan, the brat got irritated as his flintlock pistol was pressed harder against Coby's skull.

"Are you stupid or something?!" he yells. "I said stop! If you would pay attention to me, I got a hostage here you might want to look at!"

Ollie calculated that there's a high chance that he even won't press the trigger. After all, he looks like a rich kid who never ever seen a drop of blood before. Ollie would definitely knows this for sure. But still, it would still be wise to call out his screamed again which causes his captain to finally stop punching his defeated opponent and looked over to Ollie who was pointed to the brat. "If you value your little friend's life," the brat says, his eyes almost bursting out of his sockets, "you won't move a muscle! I'm serious! One move and I'll shoot him, I swear!" It's confirmed. Ollie knew that he won't shoot. His nervous position, his facial expression, these things are just shouting out that he will not shoot on propose.

Key words: _On propose._

Ollie could see him shooting Coby, or even shooting himself, on accident. Either way, it won't Ollie won't even really effect as long his captain and new crewmate are safe. People might judge him for this, but Ollie isn't being evil as he make his calculations. He's, as he prefered, being _cruel,_ and there's a huge difference between evil and cruelty. He just places his crew above the kid he only knew for a few hours, not to mention, he never really talk to. But does that mean he doesn't like it? _Debatable_.

As Coby sniffed and shook under the pistol, he shouted something. "Luffy, listen! Don't let anything that happens to me stops you no matter what! Even if I died!"

That again, Coby saying something that Ollie don't know about. From what he can guess, it's a positive sentiment to his captain from the way that Luffy was grinning proudly with his arm up in a fist, ready for another fight. Luffy approached towards the brat, who flinches back a little. Yup, as Ollie predicted. He won't shoot. This was basically pointless to worry about a meaningless threat. _So let's be productive,_ Ollie thought, thinking out another plan for resupplying their resources. But that had to be in hold for the moment.

In the same direction that he saw Luffy walking his way, a large figure rises up behind the Straw Hat who was preparing to punch. Ollie immediately recognized this figure as his hands automatically grabbed another bomb from his fanny pack. This time, it was a red rectangular prism with another linen piece attached to it. Before Ollie could light it, Luffy's fist passes above his head as Morgan paused midway of swinging down his axe. Morgan's eyes rolled back, falling down again and revealing Zoro behind him. _My God,_ Ollie thought. _He's not only the greatest swordsman I seen. He's the fastest too!_ Ollie looks around him, looking for anymore surprise threats. _Is there? Where? Is there another person who still willing to challenge us? If so, come have a taste of my Exo React: Mark 2, you git!_ He thought, making way to his crew as he scanned the area with his sharp glare. _Nothing? Really? Is it finally -_

Ollie bumped into someone.

"Hey kid!" Zoro said, softly pushing Ollie away from him. Ollie quickly looked up to him as a familiar heat rises up in his cheeks again. God! Couldn't he not be embarrassed again?! It was just an accident, not a murder! Oh well. Ollie breathed in and out, hoping that the oxygen will get rid off this blush. But as he looks at the direction of the gates where the marines are, they were celebrating, throwing up their swords and their uniform caps as they practically danced side-to-side. Wow, Ollie has suspected that the Axe-Handed was a horrible person, but the sheer amount of happiness that his defeat brings was hilarious!

Didn't anyone like him? Or does everybody had prayed for a day like this to come? Either way, Ollie slightly giggled at them while putting back his red bomb. Maybe he could finally relax and not have to worry about anything. That until Zoro had collapsed on top of the deaf boy.

Well, God _hates_ him again.

As Zoro crushes Ollie, the deaf boy swung his free arms and tried to yell for help. Luckily, Luffy saved him from suffocation by lifting the man off him and throwing the swordsman to the side. "He's hungry, Ollie," Luffy explained quickly in Hands before Ollie rants again. With his hands up in the air, Ollie huffed and put them down. _Oh yeah,_ he thought, following his captain, who drag the swordsman by his shirt, and Coby with a pout, _I forgot that he didn't eat anything from three weeks._ He should have knew it in a second. _Oh well,_ Ollie and his crew exited out of the base, _according to my calculations, nothing major won't happen again_. _At least, not for 76.78 percent of it._

* * *

Water? Check. Food? Check. Food for Luffy? Umm . . . Maybe some more but check. Everything else? Check.

Alright! I think we're going to be fine for a few days as long Luffy don't eat all of _our_ food while we are on sea. I sighed as I double checked the barrels outside of the restaurant. I still can't believe that that little girl's mom would had keep an eye in my apples _and_ even gave me a barrel of clean water while I was away! Isn't moms the best? That kind of reminds me of . . .

Wait, what am I thinking about? Oh yeah!

I marched back into the restaurant and saw that Luffy and Zoro eating like sloppy pigs with columns of empty plates on both sides of them. The food was practically flying everywhere when they ate! Ugh! So gross! Why couldn't they eat like civilized people? I eat like a gentleman, savoring every morsel of meat or vegetable like a master chef. Why couldn't they do the same thing? It's just proper manners! Not being able to bare their awful manners, I walk pass them and over to the mother behind the counter. I sort of needed to replace that _tool_ that I communicate to people, especially if we now have Zoro on our crew. Of course, I can't talk to others like I would normally do with Luffy, so I improvised. I let out a little soft noise to catch the mother's attention, and when I got it, I lay my left hand flat, palm side up, as I use my right hand to pretend to write on my flat hand. I think the mother realizes this as she nodded and gone back to the restaurant. It took like about a minute later for her to find a small orange notepad with a small pencil. It seems to be the type to write down orders from, quite not so fitting for a restaurant of this . . . Casual setting. But I haven't really been in many restaurants in my life so I can't really judge.

I gladly accepted it, taking the pad out of her hand before writing a quick, "Thank you." She nodded as I walked back to my captain. Good God, doesn't he know how to eat like a person instead like a savage? But that's not my main concern at the moment. My concern is with my new crewmate, Roronoa Zoro, and one other thing.

How to engage a conversation with him.

As much as a scholarly person I am, I can't talk. Period. And as much I want to talk, I can't with being deaf and being not sure what "sounds" sounds like. Plus, I'm just not a socialite. I would rather spend my time working of my projects and other research materials then talking about . . . What actually normal people talk about? How's their day been and other subjects like that?

Anyways, I would rather be working then actually talking to people. That's kind of my "thing" as Luffy put it I cannot just avoid Zoro. He's now an official member of the crew. Eventually, I have to talk to him, and he have to find out about my disability! I already made an impression of being a silent person, but I don't never want to make it seem like I don't want to! I need to talk with him, even if I have to talk via by paper and pencil.

I grabbed a nearby seat and sat next to Zoro, who was busy shoving food in. Even though I understood that Zoro was starving, should I wait for him to finish eating? I understood that he was starving, but is really that safe eating all of that food at once? I read in a journal published by a reliable doctor association that you should slowly eat when you had been starved for a certain period of time. Because your stomach had became smaller and when you eat too fast, you could risk trigger your gag reflex or, in the worst case scenario, your stomach would burst open from the volume that the food would take up. But with this to say, Zoro just survived three weeks with little to no food whatsoever and still be able to fight efficiently.

When he leaned back and patted his full belly, I thought that it was just the right time to "talk." With dialogue in order, I wrote down my note and tapped his shoulder. Zoro turned his head to me as I hold out my notepad with both of my hands. After all, it's only proper manners to give gifts with both hands on it. Zoro took it out of my hands and read it.

" _Greetings, Mr. Zoro!"_ it says. " _My name is Ollie. I am the official tactician of the crew and your senior (I had been here longer), and I like to say congratulations for joining us and entering in our voyage of making Captain Monkey D. Luffy King of the Pirates. But first, if you officially joined us, then I have to lay some ground rules for you!_

 _1) Do not betrayed me or Luffy. If you did, you'll have to deal with me first._

 _2) Do not disrupt my work or my productivity. I will kill you if you did._

 _3)Do not tell me to what to do. You're not the captain so you can't make me do what you want me to do._

 _4) If you eat as much as Luffy, leave some food for me._

 _5) And finally, you have to respect me as your senior. I have been in this crew for over nine years so therefore respect me! I deserved it._

 _Thank you for your consideration and welcome aboard to the Straw Hat Pirates!_

 _P.S. If you have any questions or concerns, contact me."_

It's a wonderful well-written piece. I am proud of what I wrote. In fact, I was practically in giggles when I saw Zoro writing something back. I'm so excited when Zoro handed it back. From a glance, i just say that Zoro's handwriting was surprisingly lovely. Soft and elegant curves to each letter, just like if it belongs to a old calligraphic piece. Did he said something nice? I didn't wait to read it.

" _Okay kid, I will follow your rules,"_ Oh my God! He's actually taking me seriously! A grin curls up to my lips. " _But if you follow my own rules." . . ._ What?

" _1) I won't betray Luffy, but that doesn't mean I will do the same for you if you're acting like a brat._

 _2) I will 'disrupt' you when I feel like it, because I have three swords on my side and you have just some kiddie bombs. Who do you really think is going to win?_

 _3) I can tell you what to do, because I'm bigger than you and could easily crush you with just one hand._

 _4) Have you look to your right already?"_ I stopped reading for a second and looked to my right. Oh my God, Luffy was _still_ eating as he just keep piling plate after plate. I grunted in disgust before going back to reading.

 _5) Why would I respect you? A kid who barely reached to my knees? I don't care about how many years you been in this crew, because it doesn't matter. What matters is your work and from what I saw today, you ran for cover when your first attack failed miserably. So I have no reason to respect you as my senior. So do me a favor and grow taller than me. I promise if you did, I will respect you then!_

 _P.S. Talk kid. I know you can make noises so stop pretending like you can't talk."_

What . . . ? Did Zoro actually wrote this? I feel numbed, but yet, I knew that was a slight chance like this. Yet it didn't prepare me for how it feels. Oh God, why have I ever thought that I would instantly get respect? I even forgotten to tell him that I was deaf! I just want to be respected!

. . . You know what?

I don't care about you anymore! After I make a solid plan, it will be time to feel my wrath, Roronoa Zoro!

* * *

Zoro can't help but to look at the child who wore an angered and calculating look as he aggressively rubbed his chin while looking in the air. He never really been around many children before other than the ones at his dojo, but this kid is an actual _kid_. A kid who does silly things that Zoro don't understand and not the one that works day in and day out to become a master swordsman. Sure, Rika came sometimes in the three weeks that he been tied up, but he just saw her for a few minutes then she's off. Ollie had been with him for more than a hour, more that Rika had. During that time, he seen many things from him. Ollie poked his cheek, he laughed when Zoro was threaten, he acted casually when the marines came then acted scared when his bombs doesn't work. He does strange things, but he can't really judge a child if he never been around them. But there was one thing that Zoro can't get his mind off. Why would Ollie just talk? For all the time that Ollie spend with him, he never utter one solid word. Ollie mumbles. Ollie screams. But Ollie can't talk at all. Zoro can understand that if Ollie was a mute, but Ollie isn't. It was confusing to Zoro.

But he doesn't care about that at all now.

His stomach was fuller than it had been in a while, but his new captain was _still_ eating.

"Seriously," Zoro commented, "how the hell can you have a bigger appetite than a guy who hasn't eaten in _three weeks_?"

"I don't know," Luffy replied. "Ollie said that it had to with my metabol - something? And that I need to eat more because for my caloric intake? I don't know. You need to ask Ollie. He knows more about stuff than me. But that reminds me." Luffy picked up a piece of bread from his plate and threw it at Ollie. The second that it made contract to his face, Ollie was knocked out of his chair as the bread fell beside him. People gasped as the boy, with a now pink impact mark of his face, moaned in pain. "C'mon Ollie! You gotta hurry up and eat before you forget again!" Luffy ordered.

Ollie, now down on the ground, inhaled deeply and picked up the fallen bread and rose up from his fall. With a glare that could kill a thousand men, Ollie, with the bread in his hand, ran over to Zoro and . . . Is he trying to beat up Zoro with a piece of bread? Yes, he is.

 _Take!_ He swung the bread against Zoro's knee. _That!_ he swung. _You!_ he swung. _Stupid!_ he swung. _Swordsman!_ he swung. _JUST FEEL MY WRATH ALREADY!_ he swung. _IF HITTING ACE AND KNOCKING HIM OUT WITH BREAD ACTUALLY WORKS, THEN IT WILL WORK FOR YOU!_

Actually, this is just amusing for Zoro. Ollie hitting his knee with a piece of soft bread and thinking that it will take him out. It's quite funny that Zoro let out a small laugh. _What is this boy anyway?_ He thought before Ollie threw away the bread and took out his hammer. Ollie jumped high and hit Zoro directly on his - Wait, what?!

A hand grabbed just before he hit Zoro. As Ollie gasped, the hand pulled him into Luffy. Before Ollie can realized it, Luffy put him in a headhold as he keep eating. Ollie struggles to break free for his rubbery arm, but alas, he cannot escape. "Sorry Ollie," Luffy said as he picked up a whole piece of bread. "I sorta forgot that you can't hear." Then he shoved the bread into Ollie's mouth. "There. You weren't go hungry then." But Ollie spit it out, mad about Luffy's interruption. Luffy picked it up before shoving it again in Ollie's mouth. "No Ollie. You still have to eat. You haven't eaten anything for almost _two days_." Ollie spit it out again in anger. "No! Ollie, eat!" Luffy shoved the bread again. Ollie waited for a moment or two before spitting it out again."Ollie," Luffy whined before shoving the bread again. But this time, Ollie, still bitter about his capture, softly chew on the bread that is sticking out of his mouth. As Luffy made sure that Ollie was eating, he continued to eating himself.

As a reaction, everyone in the room laughed at the duo's attics. Even Zoro laughed at them.

"Good God!" Zoro said between his laughs. "What are you two? Brothers?"

"Actually no," Luffy said between bites. "We're just best friends."

"Friends you say?" Zoro takes a sip of water. "Then it figures how you even manage to get a kid to leave his home."

"What do you mean?" Luffy asked. "Ollie wanted to come."

"Right," Zoro replied, finishing his water. "So how many others you gather besides me?"

"Huh?"

"You told me that you in the middle of gathering together the crew for your ship," Zoro stated as Ollie finished his bread, "and if you gonna be King of the Pirates, I gotta assume you already have some waiting in the wings."

"Nope. Just you and Ollie."

Zoro almost choked on air as he heard the truth. "J-Just - " Zoro pointed at himself.

"Yep!" Luffy grabbed another piece of bread and put it into Ollie's opened mouth. "It's just us three."

"So you, me, and this mute are amounts to an _entire_ pirate crew."

"And what's wrong with that? Ollie said that we can live as a small crew for a while before we go to the Grand Line."

"Okay, but please tell me you have a ship."

"Sure do, it's right there," Luffy pointed it out of the window as Ollie tugged on his arm to let go.

Zoro turned to the window and saw a small pathetic boat near the docks. "You kidding, right?" he said, getting up and taking a closer look at the "ship."

"Nope!" Luffy let go of Ollie who took his notepad and ran up to Zoro. "But we will have an enormous one before long. Just you wait and see!"

Ollie tugged on Zoro's shirt as the swordsman turned to him. Ollie quickly wrote down something and gave the pad to Zopro. " _Mr. Zoro, I see that you just saw our 'ship,' but do not fear for I, your tactician and temporary navigator, will soon get us another ship that with serves us better than that old thing."_

Zoro lowered the notepad and looked down at the kid who wore an absolute serious expression. Zoro finds humor in this and laughed. "Oh right?" Zoro sarcastically asked. "And we're gonna get another ship with big pirate flag on top of it too, right?"

"Yeah, exactly!" Luffy cheered, not noticing his sarcastic undertone. But fortunately, Ollie did noticed this by the swordsman's facial features.

And it pissed him off yet again.

Ollie screamed in anger and rammed his fists on Zoro's thigh, only causing Zoro slight discomfort. Zoro grabbed a hold of Ollie's head and moved him to the side. Ollie screamed louder as he tries to punch Zoro again. "I can't believe that I got myself sucker in having him as my captain," Zoro complained, pinching the bridge of his nose with his other hand. "Along with a kid who acts like an adult and pretends that he can't talk."

"Of course Ollie can't talk," Luffy commented. "He's deaf."

"What?!" Zoro yelled, tightening his grip on Ollie and making he screamed even louder. "That's even worse!"

That _is_ definitely worse. He now have a idiot as a captain and a deaf kid with bombs as a so-called tactician. That combination sounds like a recipe for a disaster!

"How can you invite a deaf kid to your crew?" Zoro asked, lifting an annoyed Ollie by his head and pointed at him.

"Because Ollie's _really_ smart," Luffy replied with gusto. "He's probably the smartest person that I'll ever known, and that's why he's the crew's tactician!"

"I'm pretty sure that - OW!" Somehow, by some way, Ollie's hammer (which he took out again) made contact with Zoro's cheek, causing the swordsman to let go of the boy. The boy ran back to his captain's side with a satisfied smirk. _Hehehe . . . Take that, you swordsman!_ Ollie thought, giggling as Zoro was nursing his sore cheek. For the few moments, Ollie saw his captain talking that little girl again before turning to Coby who . . . Had orange juice running from his nose. _Oh my God,_ Ollie thought, _doesn't that hurt? A highly citrus fruit down your nose like milk. That's looked so painful! And - Oh crap, Coby is saying something._

Ollie tugged on his captain's vest, but it didn't get his attention as he was focused on what's Coby saying. Is it important? Ollie tugged harder. He needed to know of it's anything important. He can't just stand here, being a deaf who was left without any important information. He had experienced way too many situations like that. As the tactician - Wait, wait.

Coby is probably talking about the Grand Line, information that he already knew from the start.

His facial features basically told Ollie that, not to mention his worried body language. If Ollie have any idea what he's say, something about the Red Line and how it's a "Pirate Graveyard," the stuff that Ollie spent years researching about. Not useful information, but Ollie can pretend to seem like he's interested. After all, it's rude to ignore a person, no matter if you knew the information or not.

But pretending is boring to Ollie. He just stood there and saw Coby's lips flapped away. Can't his captain just drag Ollie away from this boy? He gets nervous too easily.

Not too long, everyone's head turned to the entrance as Ollie followed soon after. The Marines are here. Great, they can finally go. Ollie have other things to worry about. Wait, does the marines have something more important than Coby to say? Ollie tugged on Luffy's vest, finally getting his attention. " _Hey,"_ he gestured, " _translate everything what the marines say, okay?"_

Luffy nodded as he began translating for Ollie in Hands.

"We heard that you fellas are actually pirates," the marine said. "Is this rumor true?"

"Right!" Luffy replied. "And I just added the second member of my crew, so the whole thing pretty much became official a long time ago."

"We appreciate everything you did to save our town from that horrible tyrant who terrorized us for so long," the marine stated clearly. "However, now we know that you are pirates, as marines, we can't sit idly by and watch you go about your business." Okay, Ollie's done. This was another predictable outcome that Ollie foresee a while ago. Usually, Ollie would never do this, but if the Marines want them to leave in the first place, then Ollie will respect that demand.

And walk out.

In the middle of what the marine are saying, Ollie took his notepad from Zoro and walked out of the restaurant, and passed the marines. No goodbyes, nothing. Ollie know it's rude, but logically, they won't even gonna miss him. They didn't spend as much time as they did with Luffy or Zoro, not to mention that Ollie never directly talk to them. Probably, to them, Ollie was _never_ really a person. He's just a background character. Anyway, no reason to look back and think too much. It's okay. They won't care for Ollie in the long-run.

Ollie left a quick note on the water barrel and turned over the other one on its side. Ollie took a deep breath and looked at the restaurant, crowded by civilians and marines alike. _They won't care, they won't care,_ Ollie reminds himself. _You never talk with them, so why care about them too?_

With that, he rolled the barrel away and to the port.

* * *

I'm not going to regret this decision. I'm not. I'm a pirate now. A Straw Hat Pirate. I don't need to worry about meaningless things anymore.

I am a free person.

And I will not think about that anymore as I rolled this barrel down to the boat. Unfortunately, with my short stature, I can't simply pick up the barrel and put it onto the boat. So I waited. During my wait, I effectively made some plans. Most of them are for Grand Line, but some of them are emergencies like in case someone was thrown overboard and was stranded in the middle of the ocean. But somehow, something is distracting me. I don't understand it, but I am distracted. Is it the wannabe marine or the little girl and her mom? Maybe a little bit of both?

I don't care. I need to remind myself that they don't care either. They probably forget me too like I will.

Eventually, Luffy and Zoro came back with the other barrel. "We got your note, Ollie!" Luffy said as the two put the barrel onto the boat. But even with his cheerful attitude, I was still somewhere. I feel like I was committing a mistake. I can't tell where my mind going. I can't tell what am I feeling.

No matter! I gotta move on! I'm need to be here and not somewhere else!

But as we about to set sail, I saw Coby and the girl with her mother. Oh I see now. I understand what I needed to do. I jumped off the boat and ran over the three. I knew what I just do. When I got front in them, I put my right foot back, just behind my left foot, and with my hands away from the sides of my body, I quickly bent my knees, giving them a proper bow.

There! That's what I was missing!

Even if I am now a pirate, I was still a gentleman. I can't say goodbye without a bow. It was ingrained into me like the flesh on my bones. The people was taken back from my final gesture as I ran back to the boat. "Ollie," Luffy gestured. "You still have that habit of bowing to people before you leave?"

" _Well, I'm not a savage creature like you,"_ I gestured back.

With that, we are off. We sailed away from the town at full speed. I'm not entirely sure where our next island is, but I do know that we are okay - Wait, why the Marines are coming to the port?! Oh God, are you going to arrest us or - Okay, they are . . . Saluting to us?

This is a new one. Marines are saluting to pirates. But my question is why? Why would they do this? We're pirates. Aren't they going to get in trouble for this? " _Luffy!"_ I gestured to him while he was saying his goodbyes to them. Oh well, no use in wasting my energy. We are sailing off without interruptions. But still, I don't understand why, but I feel like I'm going to miss this town. Isn't that weird? Even if I didn't live a lifetime on this island, I felt a little sad for leaving it.

Is that weird or is that normal?

Either way, I think this day has officially marks as real pirates! You hear that! Watch out, Grand Line! We are gonna be the second crew who will conquer you!

* * *

 **OH MY KOMBUCHA AND GOD! This took me forever to finish and edit. So do you like this chapter? Too wordy or what? Anyway, I don't have anything fancy to say, but THANK YOU SO MUCH! I got of a lot of feedback from you guys, and I love it! Thank you and thank you! Anyway, some of you had some questions and things that you wanted answers to, and as the author, I'm able to provide you with them!**

 _ **crazyman90: so is the oc a scientist of sorts?**_

 **MY ANSWER: Kinda? Ollie is a smart kid who spend years of reading books and other scholarly resources. Turns out that he grew up being somewhat of a scientist himself. His specialty is in chemistry, biology, and statistics. Way a go, Ollie!**

 _ **roboYeti: I would say work on keeping the same tenses and some word choice. "Pulled back" instead of "put back his arm." I find reading my work out loud helps with that. If it doesn't sound right as I say it out loud then my word choice is off.**_

 **MY ANSWER: First of all, thank you for pointing out my grammar mistake. I will improve from this. And also, don't worry if you fear of offending me. I'm completely open for negative feedback, even if it's mean. Trust me, I'm not a mean person on purpose.**

 _ **alexc123:**_ _**Wow. Ollie is not going to have fun when Nami joins the crew. Great chapter!**_

 **MY ANSWER: . . . You have no idea.**

 _ **Schnarf: a deaf oc? thats new**_

 **MY ANSWER: Actually, it's not. I read some Ouran fanfic with have a deaf OC before, but I didn't really like how the author portray the deaf OC. I don't like the fact that the OC can simply lip read and talk like a normal person. That's not how it work. If you give someone a disability, SHOW IT! I'm not deaf myself, but I** _ **do**_ **have some disabilities. Trust me, disability a** _ **re**_ **called horrible for a reason. Yes, I know some disabilities are have positive effects (A.K.A. Savants with autism), but most of time, they hurt more people rather than help! And being deaf is no different. Unlike that deaf OC, Ollie can't talk and has trouble communicating with others, therefore he has a hard time socializing! I'm not sure if this is a realistic portrayal of a deaf person, but at least, I tried!**

 **My advice is this. If you want to give a OC a disability, SHOW IT AS A DISABILITY! BECAUSE IT IS! Do your research and think about that disability and how will effect the story.**

 **Anyway, thank you so much for reading. And have a good day! :)**


	5. Muffled Insomnia

I can't sleep.

Ever since I was little, I always had a hard time sleeping. Even if I had the most conformable bed possible, I still won't go to sleep. It's not like I want to stay up. I used go to bed just fine when I was a tyke, but now, I just can't go to bed. I turned my head towards my asleep crewmates, laying on the boat's wooden floorboards in their own sleeping positions, Zoro being on his back and Luffy being with his limbs completely spreaded apart. I sighed at their inelegant positions as I began to reflect on my life's decisions, seeing there's nothing else for me to do. It only been two days since me and Luffy left Foosha Village, and I already miss it. Yes, I know that I'm a pirate now, but still, I had a lot of people that I cared for.

I stood up from my side sleeping position and walked to the ship's bow. I always had people back home to care about and so does Luffy, but yet, I wonder how he can be so . . . Relaxed and happy, knowing that he abandoned the old life he used to know. But in his defense, he always lived in quite an austere lifestyle. He's already used to this style of sleeping on a cold floor and eating raw apples instead of hot meals.

However, I'm not.

I looked at the moon. It will half-filled. A few more days and it'll be full in this starless sky. But the half moon was quite lovely as it is, glowing a peaceful blue over us like an angel's blessing. But as lovely it is, it can't distract me from my heavy thoughts.

My old life isn't like Luffy's. It's not. While Luffy have almost nothing, I had everything. While Luffy had to fight to survive, I had the pleasure to read books to grow my ever expanding knowledge. While Luffy grew to be big and strong, I grew to be small and weak. I swallowed a nervous knot as I inhaled deeply and exhaled. While Luffy didn't have his parents growing up, I had both of them.

While my parents aren't the best people in the world, I still love them and would continued to care for them, even if I died. But there's a thing that keep clouding up my mind again and again, ever since I left.

What if my parents would never forgive me for leaving them and becoming a pirate?

I know that many parents would instantly forgive their kid, but mine? I gasped at the thought, not wanting to calculate the probability of the response. I sat down on the floor and looked up at the blue moon again. For some reason, it's just not lovely as before. It's seems duller and not as beautiful as before. Is it because our atmosphere? Or some other force? There's no clouds to be seen, so that possibility was out.

I sighed again. I always wondered how about things beyond our human reach works. You know, what stars look up close? Will human be okay out beyond our world's atmosphere? Is there a way to go to the moon and cultivate life? Can I go that with other planets? I laid on my back, looking at the dull moon again. Slowly, I drifted off to asking random questions again, hoping that it will just lulled me to sleep. Even since I was little, my mind always seems wondered about many things on nights like this, most having no answer that nobody really knew. I know it's a weird quirk about me, but Luffy said that it's what makes me "unique."

I wondered about how devil fruits are created? From a tree or some other source? Is there to reverse the effects of devil fruits? How does the fruits affect the subject's mental state? Does this change of mental health majorly affected the Great Pirate Era and the race for the One Piece in any way? Does the One Piece even exist? Or is it a fluke from the former Pirate King just to piss people off after his death? I laughed softly. Well, if it's a fluke, then Luffy will probably create his own "One Piece" in order to be claimed as the new King of the Pirates of this era. I chuckled a bit harder. Wouldn't that be a thing?

My smile suddenly fell as my thoughts swarmed my head.

Luffy will change the way that world sees pirates. That's a fact. With all of my calculations, this is the first, and only, one hundred percent chance that it will happen. However, I don't know how exactly large the impact Luffy will make, but he will make an major impact in someway. I have no doubt about that. But that's not the issue on hand. If he make his predicted impact, my parents would hear about it and think about me. They may worry over me again, and to be reasonable, why wouldn't they be? After all, I wasn't really borned to be a fighter. All I got is some bombs and dirty tricks. When I compared myself to Luffy, Luffy will automatically win in a fight, and I will almost certainly will die.

My hands reached over to my fanny pack and unzipped it. With a minute of searching, I felt a cool smooth surface. I took it out and put it on my opened palm, facing up. It was small, but it fits in my hand perfectly. It was a badge made out of solid silver and high-quality leather. It had gilded design of a dramatic lion with a kingly crown, decorated with rubies, posing high with its claws about to strike.

 _An Arms of Coat._

There's only a few in the world like this, each easily costing over a hundred million berries. It would usually be completely absurd even if it's made out of expensive materials, but the worth came from what it symbolized. It's a symbol of strength, a symbol for wealth and prosperity, a symbol for _my powerful family._ My family that I abandoned.

They are probably completely worried about me. No! They _are_ worried about me. They probably have all of my bodyguards me out there searching for me. No doubtedly breaking many laws along the way, but hey, a little money bribe will fix anything. My parent were always like that. Not hesitating to hurt the bastards who would hurt me. Trust me, I saw it myself. But still . . .

 _It's my selfish wish that causes them misery._

I am what I was borned to be. It was the blood that flows through me. My selfishness that my family grew from. Our greed that corrupted many. All was firing back at them at full force. And I felt horrible. Sure, it's well-deserved, but . . . it's my parents. I love them even if they don't forgive or don't even love me anymore. I don't know. I don't want to think about it. It's unbearable to just think that my parents are worried over me, but to hate me?

. . . Maybe I deserved it.

I did something that is unforgivable, and, unlike my previous ancestors, I will accept fully of my consequences for my actions. After all, when I became a pirate, I accepted that I will be officially a criminal. A criminal that has no sense of regret for what they done . . . Right? Luffy told me a long time ago that he wanted to be King of the Pirates and that he will have no regret on deciding on that. Sometimes, I wish that I have that view, but he doesn't understand that his actions will be everlasting. If he make a mistake, he will have to accept that and vice versa.

. . . Did I make a mistake?

Maybe I shouldn't be a pirate. After all, I became Luffy's crewmate nine years ago. I was young and still naive, not knowing how that decision will be my downfall. But yet, I thrown caution out of the window and became a pirate when I should had back down. Was it foolish? Was it wise? Maybe it was not met to be? Because my parents are probably crying over me and I'm sitting here, not happy as I originally thought I would be.

 _Oh God._

I am awful. I was spoiled. I should have been grateful and stay home, _not sailed out at sea with a silly captain._ I want to go home and hug my mother. I miss her. I miss Father. I miss Foosha. I miss my bodyguards. I miss my butlers. I miss my maids. I _miss_ everyone!

And yet, I _abandoned_ them.

I suddenly felt a hand in my shoulder. I gasped, sharply turning around to that direction. It was Luffy sitting next to me! He was awake?! Oh God!

" _I'm sorry!"_ I gestured quickly, tucking my Arms into my chest and away from his sight. _Too late._ With a stoic face, he grabbed my hands out of my chest. I tried to pull them back, but with Luffy's natural strength, he easily pried the badge free from my grip. As the badge fell out of my hands, Luffy swiftly grabbed it. Out of rage and sleepiness, I banged my fists against his side, wanting my Arms of Coats back. He ignored me as he looked at my family crest like if it was a foreign object. Luffy can't touch it. He has no birthright to allow it. Hell, my family got an actual saying that tells us not to let people like him!

" _A person of Wist may touch the Arms, a person of degeneration may die for the Arms."_

I screeched at Luffy. Goddammit! Just give it back! Luffy put a hand on top of my head, stopping my attack, as he turned to me with a frown. "So you still have this?" Luffy gestured.

" _Of course!"_ I replied. " _That thing costs over a hundred million berries! Why wouldn't I take it?"_

"I dunno. But that's not the reason you took it," he retorted. "I don't get it why you take it. This thing makes you sad, right?"

I filched at his words. "I know you, Ollie," Luffy gestured, holding the Arms in front of me. "I know that you don't like looking at this, but you are here, looking at this. Why would you do that, Ollie?"

" _Why would you to wear that dumb hat of yours?"_ I swiped my Arms of Coats away from his loosen grip. " _This 'thing' is my treasure. It's the only thing that I brought from home besides those books, but they are at the bottom of the ocean, isn't that right, Luffy?"_

"Can you stop talking about that? It already happened," Luffy stated. "Plus, I never heard about a treasure that makes you feel sad."

" _The Arms of Coat doesn't make me feel sad even!"_ I pointed out. " _It's just a memento!"_

"But then why are you crying again?"

Then I realized something. My fingers reaches to my cheek and felt a coldness of a liquid. _Tears . . ._ How did I not noticed them before? Did Luffy wake up because I was crying loudly?

I quickly wiped them away before looking at Luffy with a straight face. " _No, I wasn't crying,"_ I replied. " _It's just tears that my body produced because my eyes were dry earlier. It's no big deal."_

Then suddenly, I felt a pair of arms around me. The bare warm from his rubbery arms was enough to get me tear up again. My head dug deep into his shoulder as I tried to prevent from sobbing too loudly. As the last of my tears formed from my eyes, Luffy let go and looked at me with a smile. "Don't be sad," he gestured. "I really don't like it when you are sad, Ollie. You should be happy more often."

I nodded, wiping my tears away. "So, want to talk about it?" he asked.

I was about to shake my head, but I thought about it for a moment and nodded. Luffy understood and gestured for me to tell him. I breathed deeply and started to explain what I thought tonight. Everything that I have in my head for awhile has suddenly spilled out of my hands. Everything but my "recent" calculation about Luffy's impact. By the end, Luffy was just relaxing, not worrying a single thing about my problems. Or maybe, it seems to appear? I don't know. He has a small history of having unreadable facial expressions.

"You thinking too much," he gestured, "and you doing it again."

" _Doing what again?"_ I asked.

"Thinking! You think and think 'til you can't go to sleep! Like today!"

" _You mean tonight?"_

"Ollie," Luffy whined. "Why can't you just go to sleep? It's not that bad."

" _Not bad,"_ I glared. " _I had_ abandoned _my whole entire family! Plus, don't you miss home? Don't you miss Foosha too?"_

"I do."

I dropped my hands to the floor. What? Out of all of the people who might gotten homesick, Monkey D. Luffy was one! Oh my, I had thought that he didn't miss them, knowing that he said his proper goodbyes. Hell, he told everyone that he won't be back until we find the One Piece!

"Foosha Village was my home too," Luffy explained. "I miss a lot things, like Makino-"

" _You mean Marino?"_

"Not your weird maid! Makino! The lady at the pub!"

Oh right! The green-haired lady at the cute little pub! My mother told me that she was one who basically raised Luffy for the first few years of his life.

"And I miss her and the pub," Luffy listed. "I miss the mayor and that guy who cut up the meat."

" _Mr. Leans,"_ I pointed out, chuckling at his mentality towards meat. " _The butcher next to the port."_

"Yeah! And I miss your family's cows too!"

" _I already told you that my cows are for milking, not eating,"_ I cautionly warned. " _I still haven't forgiven you for almost killing Aiya."_

"I wasn't even thinking about eating them! The last time that I tried to, you'd slapped me!"

I growled. " _You deserved it, Aiya is my favorite cow. She makes the best ice cream that I had ever had!"_

"I miss her ice cream too!" Luffy laughed. He calmed down a bit as he wore a melancholic look. "I miss a lot of things back home . . ."

Oh crap, I made Luffy sad! I rarely see Luffy actually sad, but he always has that lost puppy dog look to his eyes. Oh man, I felt like crap when I did that. Thankfully, I got the thing that will make him feel better.

" _Luffy!"_ I gestured. " _You want to be King of the Pirates, right? So think about this. The first thing that you will do after you became king is that we visit in Foosha! See! That's easy, right?"_

Luffy looked directly at me with a curious look before breaking out in a grin. "Yep!" he gestured. "That's right after I give back this hat to Shanks, Ollie!"

Shanks. The pirate that inspired Luffy to become one many years ago. I never personally met him, but from Luffy, he's seems to a great man. Besides that, I have no opinions about him, but yet, I had agreed with Luffy.

" _Sure! We will find him if you want that. After all, you're the captain and I'm your tactician. I only can suggest plans and actions that will help us greatly, but it's your choice as captain to decide on which plan to pursue."_

Luffy laughed again as he nodded. "Hey Ollie! What's your dream again? What do you want to do in the Grand Line?"

Wide smile grew. " _I thought that you already knew my dream, Luffy,"_ I gestured. " _We even shared our dreams when we officially became a crew nine years back."_

"Yeah, but I have to check if you forget it or not," Luffy stated. "You are smart, but you tend to forget about important things sometimes."

" _So you want to hear my dream again?"_ I asked with a smirk. " _Even if I may 'forget' things, I will never ever forget what I was here for!"_

I finally stood up from my spot and walked in front of boat. I spun on my heels and faced Luffy with that same smirk that was graced upon my lips. My hands raised up as I gestured quickly and clearly. Each word, each gesture was honest, truthful, and real to myself as a person, as an explorer, as the intellectual that I was supposed to be. All was true. All was real. All was _me_.

" _I want to be the first scholar from the East Blue that is entirely specialized about the Grand Line and then bring all the information that I'd learned back home!"_

Luffy grinned widely.

" _I want to write a book about devil fruits and how they work. I want to go to every island and study their unique flora and fauna and write it down as a book. I want to be the one to who will discover the location of the One Piece! I want to learn everything that is to discover over the Grand Line! And at the end, I will be renowned as a Grand Line Scholar! That's my dream, Luffy! And it means a lot to me if I can do everything I wanted. It's the only thing in the world that will truly challenges my intelligence to the fullest! Got it?!"_

"Sure thing!" Luffy cheered. "You haven't forgotten it yet!"

" _There's no 'yet,' Captain! I will never forget it. It's my dream, my hope, my resolve, my everything!"_ I climbed on the boat's railing. Sure, I'm not fit (In fact, I'm out of shape), but I have a natural inclination of balance. " _I want to be known as 'Ollie, the Scholarly Pirate of the Grand Line!' I want to be my own person! I want to create to my own name! I will become a man! I will be -"_ I stopped gesturing suddenly as I saw Zoro sitting up, awake, with a confused look. A heat familiar heat risen up to my cheeks. Oh my God, did he saw what I and Luffy been talking for the pass hour?! Oh God. He just witnessed to an awkward, seemly, one-sided conversation about our home.

Well, I just made a plan for a situation like this.

I covered my face and and fell back to the ocean, splashing against the tides. What? I _told_ you that _just_ made a plan for a situation like this. I literally didn't lied. So . . . After ten minutes of swimming under the boat (And yes, I can hold my breath for that long. Thanks a lot, Father), I emerged from the water and grabbed onto the railing and pulled myself up. As my feet landed on the boat, I founded Zoro and Luffy sitting across from each other, talking.

Of course, being deaf, I have no idea what they might be talking about, but Zoro noticed me and told Luffy about my presence, I think. Luffy turned to me with a grin. "Ollie!" he gestured. "I thought that you are gonna swim longer."

" _No,"_ I replied. " _It's way too late for a good swimming. It's like about,"_ I looked at my shadow, using the same method for a sun dial, " _It's four in the morning. I'm so sorry for waking you up, guys. You can go back to sleep now."_ We waited in silence for a moment. " _Luffy, gesture the message back to Zoro."_

Luffy sprung up in realization as he turned back to Zoro and told him about my apology. Luffy turned back to me again. "Zoro said that it's fine and that just he woke up because of me," he gestured.

Or in proper translations: _Zoro accepted my amazing apology and that it was Luffy's loud voice that woke him up._

I let out a sigh. I'm glad that I didn't further hurt our relationship. Now, let's go ahead with the real issue.

" _By the way,"_ I gestured to Luffy. " _What did you talk about when I was gone?"_

Luffy froze up. "I told Zoro about -" he hesitated, "about the - the stars!"

How many sighs did I sighed today? One . . . two . . . Too many. And this is the millionth sigh.

" _You know what,"_ I gestured quickly. " _I'm way too damn tired to hurt you now. Let's just go to bed! I didn't sleep all night!"_

"Then go to sleep then," Luffy gestured.

" _Fine then!"_ I marched over to them and laid down on the wooden floor. Goddamn, this is so uncomfortable! Not only that I miss my parents a lot, I also miss my comfy bed! Now, I'm going to have a sleepless night and back pains! Or maybe, by a 20.81 percent chance, I will finally go to bed and have a good night rest and only have minimal pain.

I didn't.

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 **OLLIE! YOU NEED SOME SLEEPING PILLS IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE SLEEPING FOR YEARS!**

 **So besides that, I only have one review to answer today.**

 _ **CatStash: Wait, how young is Ollie? Is he literally a little kid or a midget teenager? Nice story btw, look foreward to crew dynamic developement**_

 **MY ANSWER: Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! You called Ollie a midget! Oh that made my day when I got this review! Anyway, Ollie's age is now being kept a secret for a future chapter, but I given hints throughout the fic that gives you Ollie's true age. I'm sorry that I can't answer your question at the moment, but I told you Ollie's age though hints.**

 **Also, I have some IMPORTANT NEWS that I want to tell.**

 **As right now, I am looking for reliable beta readers. As you can see, I have grammar problems here and there, so I would like someone who can help. Of you think that you can, please PM me as soon as possible. We can have a talk to figure out that you are a beta reader that I need.**

 **Anyways, thank you for reading and have a good day! :)**

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 **Fun Fact: "Wist" is the past participle of** _ **wit**_ **.**


	6. Muffled Bad Day

**Thank you to** _ **stanleyman**_ **! For giving me feedback though PM! So before you read, check out** _ **stanleyman**_ **story called "Deadly Flower of Loguetown." Anyways, enjoy reading the new chapter! :)**

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Ollie didn't have a good night rest nor have minimal back pain is the _understatement_ of the decade. In fact, it's probably the worst night he ever had! Ollie didn't go to sleep and had the worst back pain that he ever had that he even sweared he now had scoliosis! Goddamn, how can commoners do this?!

Anyways, with both crewmates not knowing _anything_ about navigation, Ollie, completely exhausted and grumpy, unfortunately can't relax as he had to manned the boat." _Seriously Mr. Zoro,"_ Ollie angrily gestured as Luffy translated. " _How can you not know some basic navigation skills? Didn't you sail by yourself before we came?"_

"I did. I only sailed the seas, looking one man before . . ." Zoro blankly replied as Luffy translated for Ollie.

" _Before you got lost,"_ Ollie finished.

Zoro angrily huffed and took an apple from the barrel before taking a bite out of it. "Anyways, why are you complaining? At least you know how to navigate."

Ollie glared at Zoro as he pulled the sails, releasing them from their folded state. _I'm surrounded by imbeciles,_ Ollie thought. _Luckily, around for a few hours, we will hit land. And if I remembered the altas that I read from my private library, we are heading to the direction of Orange Town, I think._ Ollie felt a sudden tug on his shirt and turned around to see Luffy, rubbing his stomach and wearing a pout.

"I'm hungry," he gestured.

" _Then eat the apples,"_ Ollie replied before going back to the sails. A minute later, Luffy pulled on Ollie's shirt again. As Ollie turned around, he saw Luffy holding down the barrel of apples, now emptied. Not to say that Ollie personally gave Luffy a hard hammer to the skull. Twice.

" _-And that's why you don't eat everything in one go!"_ Ollie ranted with his hammer embedded in Luffy's rubbery head.

"But I'm still hungry though," Luffy whined, quickly recovering from the blunt hits, but Ollie fixed that up with getting his hammer back and giving another blow. Honestly, Ollie was a bit disappointed about his captain's immaturity and expressed that belief though his disapproving glare to Luffy. Couldn't he just see that he has to grow up a bit because he's a _real_ pirate captain now? Oh, what is he saying? If Luffy actually grew up, it would be very awkward for him as he was so used being the "mature" friend in their relationship.

But now, Ollie, with a massive headache, had to deal with his own hunger now along with navigation. Good thing that a busy town, probably filled with much needed supplies, was near. That's at least something to look forward to. He turned his attention over to Zoro who looked like he's about to go to sleep again. Ollie wanted to honestly hit Zoro with his hammer to wake him up, but he doesn't really knew what Zoro will do after so. He had, at least, expected that Zoro knew a little about navigation, but yesterday told him that Zoro was severely directionally challenged.

Ollie was absolutely frustrated as he tugged on his curly hair and huffed, puffing up his soft cheeks. He had recalculated his Grand Line Plan (That he spent _six years_ before Luffy and him sailed _)_ last night and realized that he had a lot more setbacks from what he originally expected. _That's absolutely no fair!_ He first responded. He had a lot of plans that he wanted to pursue! For example, firstly, he planned to get millions of berries from either stealing from other pirates or the marines. Secondly, he would use those berries to buy a bigger ship with some steel-reinforced plating. Thirdly, he would recruit a bigger crew that would rivals Don Krieg's! He had a lot of plans like that and even more he wanted to do. He sighed. Even if he wanted to go to the Grand Line now, much like his crew, he had to be prepared first. He knew that the Grand Line isn't just a joy ride. It's, foremost, a ride to Hell. He had relatives, both young and old, who was borned in the Grand Line and they all told Ollie same thing:

" _Without years of preparations or basic knowledge of where you are going, you rather be better off in killing yourself rather experiencing the illogical facts and truths about the Grand Line."_

Of course, Ollie knew the basics of the Grand Line from family. Of course, he can always modify his six-year plan. Of course, the course of every plan he made depends on his captain's approval. But still . . .

BASICALLY EVERYTHING WAS DESTROYED!

His ship, his plans, his research, his books was destroyed! He can build them up again, but everything has changed! It was not part of any plans he made. Ollie's stomach shook, demanding to be fed. He punched his guts, silencing it before adjusting the sails again. How he can help his crew now? Nine years ago, Ollie promised to himself that as long he's friends Luffy, to his first friend ever, and have him as his captain, Luffy and his future crewmates will _always_ come before himself. But this is terrible! Ollie barely had any money! He doesn't have a plan! He has nothing to support for his crew! But yet, these _gits_ are not a little worried about the future. How? It's not possible to not be worry! Without them worrying, he has to be the one to worry then! After all, he's not that useful in a pirate crew . . .

A hard object suddenly hitted Ollie's head, causing his to screeched in pain. As Ollie instantly comforted his sore head, he turned and saw a shiny red apple rolled next to his feet. He picked it up and looked at the direction of where it came from. Luffy was there, in front of deaf boy. Rubbing his own head. "What?" Luffy blatantly asked. "You really like apples, Ollie, and you forgotten to eat again. I haven't seen you ate anything other than that bread from yesterday." Ollie looked at the apple as a soft smile grew.

Well, at least it's still worth it to be with his friend.

" _Thank you,"_ Ollie gestured back.

Ollie suddenly dropped his apple as a gust of wind blew against the sail, forcing them out their position. _I FORGOT TO TIE DOWN THEM!_ Ollie panicked and immediately tended to the sail. As Ollie finished with tying the sails, he saw a familiar hat flow over his head. _Wait, did Luffy's hat got blown away again?_ Ollie thought before a hand stretched and grabbed it. _Yes, it did then._ Ollie turned to Luffy, who putting his hat back on. " _If winds like this came a problem,"_ Ollie gestured, " _I could always attach some strings to it so when it get blown away, it would just fall on your neck. The Grand Line is filled with unpredictable weather like this."_

Luffy shook his his head as he wore his grin. "Nah," he gestured. "It's fine."

Ollie shrugged, accepting his answer.

Without any further delay, Ollie double checked the sails, making sure that every knot he made was secured, before getting his fallen apple and sitting down, crossed leg. He stuffed the apple in his mouth, took out his notepad from his fanny pack, and started to recreate his tore research as he leaned against the railing. After all, his first entry of his Devil Fruit Dictionary: _The Gum-Gum Fruit_ isn't going to rewrite itself. Each word he wrote was elegantly cared for and well-thought-out with his utmost attention as he snacked on his red fruit. Since his days of being just a tyke, he took great pride in his writing. After all, being the last of his family to learn how to read and write, he can't help but to feel proud of himself in accomplishing something that took him at the age of eight to fully learned. And after that, it was just straight on learning everything that his baby hands can get on. Ollie wrote his entry with great enthusiasm, finishing the apple and happily smiling as he engraved his words in led. As he almost finished with the entry, drawing a detailed picture of what the Gum-Gum Fruit might looked like, he felt a hard slap on his shoulders. His head immediately spun around and faced a grinning Luffy.

"Hey Ollie!" Luffy gestured before pointing towards the skies. "Look up! There's a bird in the sky!" Ollie sighed and looked up in the skies, hoping that it would please his captain so he, himself, could go back to writing. Actually, from what Ollie can calculate, the bird was actually a _Phoenicopterus rosea,_ a descendant of a certain flamingo species and a certain seagull species. It may seem small far away, but it's quite big for a native East Blue bird. But it's okay as long Ollie and the crew don't - What the hell?! Luffy's hands took hold on the sails and he stepped back, aiming at the _giant bird that has a tendency to attack when disturbed_. Ollie panicked as he immediately grabbed his friend and tried to pull away him from it, but -

" _Gum-Gum Rocket!_ " And just like that, Luffy flung himself to danger along with a screaming Ollie, clinging to his waist for his dear, young life. "You morons! What the hell is going on now?!" Zoro yelled as he took hold of the paddles and quickly rowed the boat towards his flying captain and flying 10-year-old. Ollie was in tears, screaming as if begging to be put down. The rushing winds blew against his tears, wiping them away as new tears was produced. Ollie never like tall heights like this. He was petrified of it. It always reminded of a horrible time he had as a tyke.

Luffy was the first one to get out of his initial shock as he hurriedly pinched Ollie's wet cheeks, hoping it would get his attention. "Ollie! Ollie!" he called out in vain. "You can't cry now! OW! It really hurting my ears!" Then slowly but steadily, Ollie calmed down, tears still running down his face, as he looked at Luffy's head _which a giant beak held it in midair over a giant body of water._ Ollie sniffed, about to unleash another wail onto the world. Knowing this, Luffy acted quickly and gestured to Ollie (Thank God that his hands are still free), "No no no no no no no no don't cry! Don't cry, Ollie! Just think about how we gonna get out!" Ollie blinked away his tears on Luffy's vest and wore a determined expression. He nodded to Luffy as Ollie pulled himself up, climbing up towards the bird. Luffy cheered as Ollie's tiny hands grabbed his vest one after another. Ollie's arms shook in a tiring pain, not used to such strenuous activity.

His hand slipped off Luffy.

He hanged by one hand on his captain's vest, swinging to the side-to-side as he occasionally looked down at the dark sea. His heart suddenly felt heavy. Luffy quickly grabbed onto to the boy and hugged him close. Ollie finally take hold of his vest. _That was too close_ , they thought in unison, knowing what happen if Ollie had fell. Oh sure, if eight-year-old Luffy was here, he would instantly drop Ollie, thinking that the water would break his fall.

It won't.

Despite whatever books or whatever old man told you, a deep water source, like the ocean, won't break your fall because the surface tension will kill you means that falling at a certain height is just like falling onto hard _stone_. And if that doesn't kill you, then sure, it'll may soften it with some broken bones and maybe a broken neck, but you could just swim out of it. Oh wait, broken bones don't help with swimming within a water body that covered 70 percent of the world! One slip, and Ollie will be good as dead! Luffy only can be thankful for Ollie teaching him some "science things" when they were children.

Ollie stopped looking at the water and concentrated on climbing. Ollie grabbed on his shoulders and pushed himself up onto the bird's pink feathers that near its beak. Ollie breathed heavily. His chest hurt like if some beast had beaten on it. _Oh my God,_ he thought, putting his knee on his captain's shoulder. _I never done this much exercise in my entire life. How can Luffy do this on a daily basis?_

As he climbed on the bird's beak and Settled on it, Ollie sweared that this will be the last time he doing any climbing as a pirate. Finally catching his breath, Ollie lifts his head and then frozed. _My God . . ._ Ollie thought, looking back at the bird's green eyes. _Its eyes . . . IT'S BEAUTIFUL!_

Ollie's former teary and tired eyes was filled with absolute wonderment.

 _I can't believe it!_ Ollie smiled happily. _This isn't a Phoenicopterus rosea. It's a Phoenicopterus viridis! An endangered species that experts estimated there's less than two hundred of them in the wild!_ Ollie clapped with excitement. _Oh my! Oh my! I thought my day was bad, but this really makes up for it!_ A sudden realization struck him. _I MUST RECORD THIS!_

"Um, Ollie?" Luffy awkwardly shouted. "Can you get me out of here?"

Ollie looked back at his hanging captain, realizing his forgotten presence. _Oh yeah. Gotta get him out._ Then Ollie looked down at the sea a few miles below him before feeling goosebumps on the back of his neck. _Eh,_ he shrugged, looking away from the sea, _I will help you when we get to dry land, Luffy. I think._ Ollie turned back to the animal with gleaming eyes. _Okay, Miss Phoenicopterus viridis! Come to papa!_ Ollie scooted up the beak, taking a good look at its eyes. _Ah yes, the exclusive green eyes of the Phoenicopterus viridis, or locally known as "The Heavenly Greens." You are a part of "Top 100 Most endangered Species in the World."_ Ollie giggled with excitement before his eyes slightly soften to sympathetic. _Ah yes, I heard that your kind had been hunted by poachers who desired to sell your meat and eyes to be used in faultless rituals and to be kept as inhumane trophies._ Ollie rubbed its beak as to comfort it and strangely enough, the bird looked at the deaf boy with interest. _That's why you are endangered, right? Well, I'm Ollie, and I understand what you feeling. To be alone because there aren't as much as you before. I know that feeling. There isn't much deaf people in the world . . ._ Ollie suddenly straighten up his posture and clapped his hands together as he wore a kind smile. _Don't worry little creature! For one of my life's goal is to open conservation for endangered species like yours! That is after I became a Grand Line Scholar. But first,_ Ollie reached over to his fanny pack and took out his notepad which he luckily stuffed in his pack before he grabbed. _Okay!_ Ollie took out his pencil from the notepads coils. _Let's do some recording!_

"Ollie!" Luffy shouted at the writing boy, wriggling in the bird's mouth. "Over here! Help me! This is _really_ not comfortable! Help!" Then Luffy realized something as his arms dropped to his sides. "Oh yeah, I'd forgot that you're deaf." Ollie grinned in euphoria as he wrote page after page of his experiences with this amazing bird (Even if it's for a short while). Ollie was obvious to all things that surrounded him. The rushing winds, the bird's stare, and even his friend's request to be saved (To be fair, Olie didn't even hear it in the first place)

Until he felt the bird opening its mouth.

Ollie didn't realized, but his captain had been screaming his name as he fell towards Orange Town. But a few moments later, Ollie turned around to check on his captain, and then he realized that he was gone. It took him a few moments of silence before Ollie processed the information. Not to say, he started to panic again as his brain can logically processed the situation. _WHERE'S LUFFY?!_ He thought as he leaned forward and almost fell down. As he caught himself and regained his balance, he accidentally looked down and saw a small town filled with buildings and structures that are associated with a no-named town.

But there was no people.

Ollie immediately pushed himself up and observed the silence town. He never really been to many small towns in his wealthier days other than Foosha, but he knew that a town had to have people walking around doing . . . What do normal commoners do again? Shop? Work? Garage-dive? No, that's what Luffy would do. Umm . . . Well, Ollie have barely a clue on what actually _normal_ commoners do, but he definitely knows that towns should be bursting with life! And this town is dead like his Great Founder Grandfather! _Oh wait, there's people_ , Ollie thought, looking down at small figures, _and . . . THAT HAVE THE JOLLY ROGER FOR BUGGY THE CLOWN PIRATE CREW?!_ Ollie gasped loudly. _Why Buggy the Clown is here? Are they here for supplies or something? Or they are pillaging?!_ Ollie huffed in frustration, puffing up his cheeks and glaring at all of Buggy's pirates. _Well, my friend had probably fallen into this town according to my 75.52 percent calculation, and I'm not just gonna stay here on this amazing creature!_ Then Ollie realized the _height_ as his stomach dropped.

Ollie sat up straight before looking directly at the bird's green eyes. _Miss Phoenicopterus viridis, I need to break up with you. I'm sorry, my dear. It's not you. It's my idiot captain that I have to save. Again._ Ollie waited for a response. _Wait, why the hell I'm trying to communicate with an animal? With my mind at that? I'm supposed to be smarter than that!_

Ollie suddenly slapped his face as punishment for doing something stupid before finally getting back to reality. _Okay, let's stop playing around! Luffy is going to die because you are here and not there, helping him,_ Ollie looked at the bird. _But the question is how to get down there without killing myself in the process?_ Ollie blankly at the bird, deep in thought. _Umm . . . There has to be a way. Before killing this bird, I mean._ Then a brilliant plan popped out of his head as Ollie slowly grinned. _Okay, I can_ definitely _do the without interruptions._ Ollie looked at the bird with a sharp, focused glare, calculating his odds. _Miss Phoenicopterus viridis,_ Ollie thought, taking out some of his colorful bombs from his pack, _I have a deal for you._

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 **Before anyone ask, there's a difference between a few feet and** _ **a mile**_ **.**

 **Okay, we have one review today.**

 **CatStash:** _ **I...ship it? Lmao, Ollie is so cute. Also, is Ollie the first mate since he joined the crew before Zoro? It's probably a stupid question but I didn't see it mentioned. Anywhooo, excited for the buggy arc!**_

 **Thank you for the compliment, CatStash!**

 **Before I answered this question, I have to tell this to everyone. OLLIE IS PROBABLY NOT GOING TO BE SHIPPED WITH** _ **ANYONE**_ **! PERIOD!** **I mean, he looked like a child.**

 _ **No pedo crap there!**_

 **Anyway, funny story, Cat! When Ollie first joined, he didn't really know anything about pirate, other than not to get involved with them since "they'll murder him." (*Cough, cough* His parents) So when he joined, he instantly assumed a role. In his imagination. "Wow! I'm now the tactician for Captain Luffy of the Straw Hats! Watch out world!" Luffy tried to explain that how it works and he should be his first mate, but Ollie was deaf and Luffy hadn't learned Hands yet.**

 **So years passed and Ollie learned that he should had been a first mate all along! *Le gasp* What a twist! So Ollie asked Luffy why he didn't tell him about this and he wanted to be first mate and stuff, but Luffy did and said this.**

" **If you really want to be my first mate** _ **and**_ **my tactician, you can be both."**

 **So, yeah, after that, they made a unspoken rule between them that is really confusing to others.**

 **Ollie is the combo of a first mate** _ **and**_ **a tactician, but in conversation, they will prefer Ollie as "tactician" since they gotten used to stating that role.**

 **Weird? interesting? Meh, it's One Piece. It's both.**

* * *

 **Fun Fact: Ollie has a undying love to animals of all kind.**


	7. Muffled Anxiety

_**Warning: Anxiety and panic attacks.**_

* * *

Bird? Check. Bombs? Check. Aerial view of Buggy the Clown's location? Check. Aerial view of Luffy's location? Nope, Miss Phoenicopterus viridis is still scanning the area for him while I'm directly searching for him in the empty village of Orange Town.

And yes, I see you, judgemental gits. Before you can say anything about how the everlasting hell I get down from a giant bird and befriended it, just note this: I am one of the smartest geniuses in the world by default. I can figure out a way to almost any situation with my amazing intelligence. Plus, my mother taught me the art of taming _any_ animals on our private farm including birds. God, how I miss the farm . . .

But this isn't the time to get nostalgia. I must save Luffy! It's my second official job (By "default") to save Luffy from any situations that resulted by his dumbass decisions! Plus, I'm . . . bit worried about him. But now, with my superior air force in place, I'm currently walking around town, avoiding the incoming Buggy Pirates along my way. And it was _really_ easy to sneak around. These idiots was acting like they can't tell a short person (A short person who also hides behinds barrels and alleyways) from their asses. Like "La la la la, I'm a big dumb pirate who can't take on this super duper AMAZING, smart kid because I'm so DUUUUUMB."

But enough with me insulting them. I'm going to save my real sass for later. Right now, I have to find my captain.

At the twelfth or so empty building that I searched, I had decided to recalculate my original statistics for finding Luffy. And it is at . . . 0.02 percent in finding Luffy in a house, 34.29 percent go to Luffy wondering around like I was, and 52.43 percent in Luffy actually getting caught by Buggy, and the rest go to many other situations that is very unlikely to happen. Ahh, statistics . . . How can I live without you?

Anyway, if there's more than one-half chance that Luffy had been captured, then I have to make up another plan to save him from Buggy the Failure Clown. I sighed as I walked in the streets, looking up at the fluffy clouds. Great, I have to do a lot of work then. Where's that swordsman when I need him? I mean, ever since we got him, he had been "particularly" useless. Other than fighting, he had been . . . Not up to my standards in terms of what I want in a crewmate. Then again, I must accept the fact that _my_ captain wanted him and we got him. I can't just kick this slacker off without my captain's permission after all.

Oh why am I ranting? I must think up a plan to save Luffy's ass now.

A strong wind blew behind, causing me to swiftly turned around and saw Miss Phoenicopterus viridis sitting on top of a building. I panicked at first, worried about Buggy's crewmates coming to find me, but Miss Phoenicopterus viridis' has, what I had to admit, a motherly aura and it has calmed me. It sounds odd, but many animals always have therapeutic effect to humans like cats and dogs. Or I just like animals. I shouted at her as she focused her stare at me. She lowered her head towards me as I immediately petted her soft feathers. Ah ha! See! I told you I can tame animals! I tamed animals like my mom! Then she pushed me slightly away before opening her mouth. I nodded to her and threw some of my "special" powder into her mouth and onto her tongue. She closed it and, I think, squeaked in bliss. In return, she, what I might thought, gave my an affectionate push like if it's her way in giving a hug. I laughed at this gesture, petting her back.

Sheesh, isn't animals cute?

I remembered many times like this when Luffy and I was much younger. Luffy would always said that animals are only for eating when I found an animal like a small bird or a venomous snake or a man-eating crocodile when we were wondering around in the forest? Jungle? Oh whatever! Anyways, I would get so mad at him that if he even considered on touching the poor animal in my hands, I would bite him! Just because I love animals so damn much. I was such a silly kid back then. Wait a sec! I can't get nostalgia again! Stay focused!

After I done petting Miss Viridis (Yes, I'm shorting it to make it easier), I did some hand gestures to communicate with her. These was completely different from the Language of Hands that I usually do. These are simple hand gestures that I taught this creature earlier. And yes, I'm deaf, but I heard you weird old man saying that animals are dumb, which I'll retorted back with this: Despite whatever you believe about animal intelligence, depending on what species of animals they are, animals can be just as smart as to humans. Or Luffy. But almost other humans. And Luffy. I started to slowly gesture to the creature, making sure that she understands me.

" _RED-RUBBER-MAN, where is he?_ "

The bird respond by kneeling down to me, a sign for me _climb_ on. I sighed. God, I just hate climbing. I hate almost all forms of exercise in fact, but my captain is in trouble so . . . I climbed up her back, using her feathers as leverage. My God, I felt those sweat drops started to form against my head once again. Like before and other future incidents to come, I wasn't born for much physical activities. I was an aristocrat, a high member of society, before becoming a pirate. And I was _still_ an aristocrat in form.

After the climb, I deservedly sat on Miss Viridis and grabbed a handful of her feathers.

And I prayed to whatever God there is, telling them _Please don't kill me because my time on this world isn't finished yet._

By the way, did I ever mentioned how much I _hate_ heights too? Along many other things? Without any other moment, we took off. The winds rushes against my face as I felt the warmth of the afternoon sun. I hold onto the feathers for dear life, scared beyond belief. But yet, I have to look down. It's the only way that I could find Luffy after all. My stomach dropped before burying my head into Miss Viridis' feathers as I barely peaked the town. It was so far, miles in fact,and so deep like a carved-out canyon. That's going to kill me if I'm not careful! I breathed deeply and exhaled. Okay, I have to look at it again. I gotta search my idiot of a captain. My shoulders shook slightly in fear. I lifted my head from the feathers and - My God.

It was so far! So far! So . . . Deep . . . A sudden dark thought came by my mind. A thought that I don't, that I refused to acknowledge. That I _can't_ acknowledge!

 _Oh God, I can feel his hands around my neck again . . ._

But I did anyway.

A sudden stressed pain merged from my chest. God, not now! Why this?! My breath quickened. My muscles tightened. I felt lightheaded and dizzy. I can't breathe. I was so scared. So scared. My heart can't stop beating fast and the world can't keep still. Oh God, it won't be a repeat! _This_ isn't a repeat! I can't get like this. I will die if I don't calm down!

I tried to slow down my breathing.

I could pass out if I don't control my breathing, and when I passed over, I could fall off this bird with ease! Like I practiced, slow deep breaths. I inhaled and exhaled. I inhaled and exhaled. I'm okay. I'm safe. Besides _being over a mile away from the ground_. NO! Don't acknowledge it. Don't even think about it. I'm safe. I'm safe. My chest pain relieved itself, leaving only a slight discomfort. There it go. My breathing settled to a much calmer pace. I'm okay. My muscles released most of its tension. I opened my eyes and looked at my environment and saw one of the most beautiful things that I saw today.

A peaceful setting with soft white clouds and a light blue sky. The sun shined like everyday, like always in a day. The winds blew gently in my brown curls, feeling a caring cool to it. Hey, this isn't so bad. How can something be so scary when it's so peaceful? I was probably scared for no reason. I'm safe. I'm safe. I am _safe_.

 _But Luffy isn't,_ a crawling thought ran. _In fact, he might be dead right now. Because I was looking at some clouds and being useless instead of dining something. He may be crushed, mutilated, torn apart by a sadistic being . And - NO!_ I stopped myself. _No! No! No! No!_ No! _I can't think like that! Luffy's strong! The second strongest man that I had ever seen! Even some of my bodyguards was scared at him for a short period of time! Luffy can't just die before we reach our goals! Right? No! It is right! It's fine. He's fine. He's - Whoa!_ The bird started to descend down, back onto the Earth. Oh great, finally! I'm getting back to reality! Wait a minute! Is that . . . ? Okay, I seen some pirates, expected, and . . . Zoro bleeding from his side! Luffy in a cage! And - Oh Hell no. Hell No. I'm not seeing it! I _will_ not see it! I will not see that _girl_ that I'd robbed when I was at that town! Oh my God! I have a lot to deal with when I get down!

Goddamnit all to Hell!

* * *

Nami isn't a person to be shocked so easily. With all the things that she seen during her life, she can safely say that she saw more surprises that she needed to in her lifetime. All of the surprise included meeting a rubber man/pirate, almost killing him with a cannonball, and seeing a swordsman get stabbed by a disembodied hand. Now, everyone in Buggy's crew is going to kill them all. Perfect. This is unfair to a T. Well, at least that they all are going to die together. There's no chance a miracle is going to happen soon.

But a miracle did happen.

In the midst of this chaos, a hard _clunk_ sounded the area. Before Nami can react, a large explosion went off. Bits of fire and sharp metals came out of the bomb as they spread out like a wave, hitting nearby pirates. They screeched in agony, quickly falling down. Nami used her arms to block the shrapnel from hitting her face. She felt the sharps tearing away from her arms. "What the Hell?!" Buggy yelled as a piece of metal scratched his cheek, causing it to bleed and stained his robes. His tent was engulfed in flames as he rushes towards his crew, covering his cut cheek. He rapidly looked around. His crewmates, his _friends,_ all injured and hurt. "WHO DONE THIS?!" Buggy screeched, enraged.

Without an answer, a large shadow filled the area. Like in unison, everybody looked towards the sky and saw the most unbelievable thing that they seen in their entire lifes. But Luffy laughed as the sight. "Welp, Ollie looks pissed," Luffy commented. A little boy with heinous dark circles jumped off a few feet from a _giant bird_ and safely rolled on the ground. Nami gasped, discovering who that sudden bomber was. It was that same kid who stolen her wallet!

Now up on his feet, holding some oddly shaped objects in his small hands, he glared at the pirates with the most hate-filled glare that she ever seen in her entire life. The boy growled at them, crushing a white cube in his hand and tossing it over to Buggy. A cloud of white smoke filled the area, causing everybody who exposed to it to start violently coughing. Buggy suddenly founded himself to be not able to charged towards the little boy due to his lungs _burning_ from inside. Without a wasted second, Ollie sharply turned his head over to Nami, causing her to jumped at his harsh glare. But in actuality, he was looking at Zoro who was in as much shock as Nami. The boy pointed at Luffy, sending a direct order that is instantly fully understood by his crewmate.

 _Get Luffy. Now._

Zoro hopped onto his feet and hoisted the cage onto his back. "Okay, Ollie is _really_ pissed," Luffy casually said, not worrying about a single thing that is happening now. He already knew that his tactician always got his back in any situations he come across. The boy nodded to Zoro before crushing the other bomb in his hand and throwing it away. It left a trail of white smoke as it consumed the area. Nami can't see anymore, not even for her own hand in front of her face. Suddenly, she felt a small tug on her other hand. Even though she can't see, she know it had to be one person. Slowly, the tugging led her out from the smoke and out of Buggy's sight, but Nami is unquestionably freaked out by this kid. Who is he? Where did he came from? And how he can act so casually when these pirates are screaming in pain?!

* * *

Now, away from that horrible area, Ollie felt like he needed to have a refreshing cup of tea after what happened.

"Hey Ollie! Where had you been?!" Luffy yelled, looking at the slow-walking boy who hold his new navigator's hand. Ollie seems to be breathing roughly "Wow, really? Are you really that tired?" Luffy commented after, finally, struggling for so long, getting the rope tied around his body loose. Luffy leaned closer to the deaf boy and yelled to Nami, "Hey! Can you turn Ollie's head towards me? He's deaf and I can't get his attention!" _Deaf?!_ Nami thought.

Nami stopped in her tracks which, in turn, causes Ollie to stopped and looked at her with his glare. Nami let go his hand and looked back at him in shock. _Why is he looking at me like that?!_ "HEY OLLIE!" Luffy screamed loud enough for the whole town to hear, causing his two _hearing_ crewmates to cringe. "ARE YOU IGNORING ME?! LOOK AT ME!" Ollie finally noticed his captain and immediately directed his glare at him, but despite his harsh glare, Luffy grinned widely. "There you go," Luffy said as he gestured. "I'm glad to see you! I thought you pass over before you could find us, but you actually still wake!"

" _Of course, Captain,"_ Ollie quickly gestured. " _But as much I like to 'cheer' on my accomplishment, I have to do something."_

"Something?" Luffy asked before a flying hammer embedded itself to his skull again. Nami screeched at the action before Ollie screamed in anger and jumped on Luffy's cage and squeezed his arms though the wide bars. " _Fuck you, Luffy,"_ Ollie growled as he gestured though the bars, just hanging off of the cage. " _Fuck you for making me_ _worry over you, ya git! You can't understand how I feel when you suddenly disappear on me! I have been looking for you for_ hours _! And I even befriended a endangered bird species by making some addicting animal drug which uses half of my goddamn bombs! Now, I'm down to just five, and I just used three so I have only_ two _left! And if you die by Buggy's hands, I would - I was -"_ Ollie's hands shook as his eyes soften. " _I was so scared, Luffy. I thought you were gonna die! We didn't even go to the Grand Line yet! We both have some big plans over there. And if you would to die, then - then -"_ Ollie felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Luffy with a straight face, and then Luffy tapped his fist on Ollie's cheek. "I thought you were smarter than that," Luffy gestured. "You don't have to worry. I'm fine. See?"

Ollie looked at his captain. He's perfectly fine. No cuts. No bruises. He was fine.

"You worried too much, Ollie," Luffy gestured. "You just really need to let go of things sometimes."

Ollie frowned, but a sense of gladness filled his heart. " _Just shut up, you rubbery fool."_

"Who," Nami whispered, bearing witness to these events. "Who are you guys?"

Zoro huffed under the heavy weight in the cage. Ollie jumped off and looked at Nami with a blank stare. It's already exhausting for having to worry about his stupid captain, not to mention his insomnia and panic attack, but he doesn't need anymore of these . . . Threats! Ollie hold his hand out, preventing Zoro from speaking, as he took out his notepad. In a quick second, Ollie sharply wrote a note and passed it to Nami to read.

" _I do apologize in advance for any rudeness that I may say in this little note, but nevertheless, it has to be said,"_ it read. " _Madam, I saved you a few moments ago, but that doesn't mean I will deal with any issues that you may have with Captain Buggy the Clown and/or his crew. I prefer, as the tactician of Captain Monkey D. Luffy's pirate crew, that we go our separate ways. And yes, I did steal your wallet from that town. And no, I will not give it back to you. And yes, I am communicating through notes because I'm hearing impaired. Now, let's pretend that this meeting never happened._

 _Signed, Ollie of the Straw Hats Pirates."_

Nami felt that she is being talked down like a child by a child. Insulting. Ollie, on the other hand, didn't care whatsoever. He never talked with her so why even care?

"For God's sake, kid!" Zoro yelled at Ollie, struggling under the weight of the stone cage. "M-Move! You are in the way!"

Ollie didn't. He didn't even hear the command that Zoro was so desperately wants. Nami, realizing the child's disability, took it upon herself and grabbed Ollie's thin shoulders and moved him out of the way. Ollie was shocked by this sudden action that he jerked his shoulders and resumed his current stand next to Zoro who was slowly walking past him. _I can't believe it!_ Ollie thought. _That's so rude! You don't push someone unless they are in the middle of the street! Are common women like this? Rude and unladylike? Well, I don't care if your beauty is like my mother's, you are a rude, rude - Wait, where is she going?_ Ollie saw Nami lightly jogged next to his crewmates. Then Ollie realized why Nami probably pushed him. Blushing in embarrassment, Ollie jogged next to the other side of his crew, notably at a slower pace than Nami. Nevertheless, he caught up with a lack of breath.

* * *

 **THERE IT GO! I'M FINISHED!**

 **Okay, I'm so,** _ **so**_ **sorry for making you wait and this crappy chapter. I have school and stuff going on here. Ya know, like SAT. Anyway, I got one review for today.**

 **samuraimaster1776:** _ **I'm guessing that Ollie age is around 11-13**_

 _ **Great story by the way, it's hard to find some good male OC stories since there's only like 5-10% male oc fanfic so think**_

 **My Answer: Oh thank you so much! I'm happy that you enjoyed this fic! And yeah, there's a lack of male OCs, but do not worry! I'm here to provide that, good person!**

* * *

 **Fun Fact: Ollie has never really have a heart-to-heart with commoners other than Luffy and a selected few important people in his life. So Ollie acts like a gentleman with commoners because he doesn't know how to talk with them any other way.**


End file.
